


Reclaiming Iron

by TheDumbestAvenger



Series: Born of Iron [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Childhood Friends, Family Feels, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Self-Doubt, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, the Midtown crew turn up through out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26251231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDumbestAvenger/pseuds/TheDumbestAvenger
Summary: Guilt isn't a new feeling for Kalen, how do you think he got into this business in the first place? When the Avengers return with Loki's sceptre, that guilt leads down a path that was supposed to save the world, not end it. But Ultron has different ideas.
Relationships: Tony Stark & Avengers Team, Tony Stark & Original Character(s)
Series: Born of Iron [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742518





	1. Longing for Something to be a Part of

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Avengers out searching yet another Hyrda base for Loki's sceptre, Kalen's guilt gets the better of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Welcome back! Or if you're new, then simply welcome! Hope you stick around and enjoy this instalment of 'Tony loses his mind worrying about his son.'
> 
> It's a bit of a departure from my normal writing style, chapters are much longer and more in-depth (at least, that's what I aimed for) both with individual characters, and the story as a whole. 
> 
> This chapter title is taken from 'Alexander Hamilton' from (you guessed it) Hamilton. Enjoy! :)

**May 2015 - One Year After the Take Down of SHIELD**

Kalen never needed an alarm to get up in the mornings; Steve called him an early riser; Tony called him the weirdest teenager on the planet. Either way, he was just awake from the moment he opened his eyes, and today was no exception. Kalen sat up in bed and stretched his arms over his head. “Morning, Jay!”

_ “Good morning, Sir. It’s 6:32 AM, the weather in New York is forty-two degrees with clear skies.” _ As he spoke, Jarvis opened the metaphorical curtains - i.e. removed the tint from the windows - which bathed the room in an orange glow.  _ “The average wind speed will be twelve miles per hour, and sunset will be at 7:44.” _

Kalen grinned. Despite telling Jarvis multiple times that a morning weather report was unnecessary, he hadn’t stopped yet. “Thank you, Jay.”

_ “It’s my pleasure, Sir.” _

Kalen was almost sure there was a hint of mockery in the AI’s voice. He spent a couple of minutes sitting on the edge of his bed scrolling through Twitter before dropping his phone onto the duvet and standing. “Hey, Jay?” He asked, crossing to the door. “Has Thor eaten my cereal again?” 

Since the takedown of Hydra, the Avengers had been spending a lot more time at the tower. It quickly came to light that Hydra had seized control of various items from SHIELD, including Loki’s sceptre, which the Avengers were hunting down. They’d spent months raiding known Hydra bases, some stood abandoned, some still in use, but had yet to find the sceptre. 

After some sort of incident in London - the details of which were lost in his extravagant retelling - Thor dropped by the Avengers Tower to check in. That was when he learned about SHIELD, Hydra, and the sceptre, and a grim expression covered his face. Later, he’d muttered something about Loki being his responsibility.

_ “Your Lucky Charms have gone untouched since yesterday morning.” _

“Good.” Kalen flung open the bedroom door skipped towards the kitchen.

Opening up one of the cupboards, he brushed past the emergency box of Cap’n Crunch and poured a large bowl of Lucky Charms. Thor had only seen Steve eating Cap’n Crunch and assumed it was made especially for him, Kalen forbade anyone from correcting him.

As he grabbed the milk from the fridge, Kalen heard footsteps and turned to see who was coming. “Oh, hey, Uncle Sam,” he said with a smile.

“Hey, kid. How you doing?” Sam sat at the breakfast bar, holding a steaming cup of coffee in his hands.

Kalen nodded to the Lucky Charms box. “I’ve got cereal, so everything’s great.” He paused as Sam chuckled. “I didn’t know you were coming up here.”

“It’s an unplanned visit. There’s an update on our… missing persons case. I’m just here to fill Steve in.” Sam took a long sip of his coffee as Kalen brought his bowl to the bar and tucked in.

“Do you think it’s actually him this time, or another wild goose chase?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. I’m still not sure he’s the kind of guy you want to find.”

Kalen shoved a massive mouthful of Lucky Charms in his mouth and chewed quickly. “He saved my life. Uncle Steve’s too.”

“Sure. After throwing you both in a river.”

“You didn’t see his eyes. The Winter Soldier tried to kill us, but it was Bucky who pulled us out. It felt like looking at an entirely different person.”

“I just hope, when we find him, it’s Bucky and not the other guy.” Sam took another sip of coffee and eyed Kalen’s Iron Man themed pyjamas. “Cute style,” he smirked.

Kalen looked down, momentarily forgetting what he was wearing. “Oh, this was Auntie Nat’s idea of a joke. It’s on her though ‘cause these are the comfiest pyjamas known to man.”

“Well, forgive me for not buying a pair. I don’t think Tony needs that added to his ego.”

Kalen laughed as he finished up the last of the cereal. Scraping his spoon along the edges of the bowl to get every last morsel before dumping it in the dishwasher. “I’m going to take Cole for a walk, could you text me if the post arrives?”

“Of course.” Sam raised his eyebrows as a grin crossed his face. “You waiting for a letter from a cute girl?”

Kalen, already halfway out of the kitchen, threw a glare over his shoulder. “Sure.” 

Cole lay on the foot of Kalen’s bed and jumped up with an excited bark when Kalen walked in. “Shh,” he whispered, “Uncle Clint’s next door, and he gets mad if he’s woken up before nine.” He moved to sit next to the dalmatian, receiving a string of good morning kisses. “Thanks, pal. I love you, too. Now, be a good boy and annoy Uncle Sam for me, huh?” Cole let out a gentle  _ boof _ as Kalen scratched the top of his head before he trotted out of the door.

After making his bed, changing into skinny jeans and an orange hoodie, and brushing his teeth, Kalen grabbed Cole’s leash and headed out. He took him to Bryant Park where he produced a tennis ball from behind his back - a move that would never fail to excite Cole - and threw it across the green. They kept up the game of fetch for almost an hour when Cole ran off across the park. 

Kalen jogged after him, soon spotting him sitting patiently next to a woman and child trying to enjoy morning croissants. The kid was probably a year younger than Kalen, and he smiled down at Cole with glee. “Sorry about him,” Kalen called. “Cole, come one. Leave the nice people alone.”

The woman looked up. She had long, brown hair and a kind look in her eyes as she spoke. “Oh, don’t worry about it.” She gestured across the table where the boy was itching in his seat to play with Cole. “He loves dogs.”

Kalen turned to the kid and grinned. “Me too. Having my life turned upside down was worth it if only to get this guy out of it. You can give him a stroke, if you’d like.” 

The boy scampered out of his feet and crouched beside Cole, laughing as the dalmatian licked up the side of his face. After a moment, he looked up for the first time, only just realising whose dog was hoping for a second breakfast. His eyes widened, and his jaw fell slack. “Um…” he stammered for a few seconds. “Hey, I’m- I’m Peter.”

“Kalen.”

“Yeah, I know who you are.” He waved his hands. “Wait, no. That sounded creepy. I just mean, I’ve watched the wormhole and all that.”

“You were in the city during the battle?”

The woman answered. “We watched from our apartment over in Queens.”

“Queens? That’s a long way to come for a croissant.” Kalen said as he leashed Cole ready for the walk home. 

“We’re looking at high schools. You know the drill, you must be in the same grade, right?”

Peter sighed and glared back at the lady. “May, I already told you I want to go to Midtown Tech, not Manhattan.”

Kalen straightened up, a grin on his face. “No way! You applied to Midtown, too?”

“What, really?” Peter squeaked. “Now I  _ have _ to get in. Going to school with you would be so cool!”

“Yeah.” Kalen couldn't place why, but something about Peter’s bubbly, if not slightly awkward, demeanour just made him want to get to know him. His phone chimed with a text from Tony. 

_ Everything alright? _

Kalen could sense the nerves behind the two words. Usually, he’d have returned from the walk by now, and the dissolution of SHIELD only served to double Tony’s worry over his son. Kalen quickly sent a reply.

_ On my way back now. _

“Sorry, I’ve got to go. Dad’s wondering where I am.” He grinned at Peter. “Hopefully, I’ll see you at Midtown.”

* * *

The first thing Kalen did upon returning to the tower was to check if the post arrived yet. If it had, it wasn’t in the usual spot by the lift door. He unleashed Cole’s collar and let him trot away as Thor just so happened to pass. “Hey, Uncle Thor?”

“Yes, Son of Stark?”

“Do you know if today’s post has arrived?” Kalen tried to make it sound nonchalant, like he wasn’t stressing out waiting.

Thor narrowed his eyes, a look of confusion crossing his face. “Is post what comes out of that noisy contraption of your father’s?”

Kalen fought against the urge to roll his eyes. In the time Thor has been on earth, he’d dedicated a lot of time to teach him about every day earth things such as phones and cinemas. But every conversation brought new explanations along with it. “No, you’re thinking about the printer. The post is a bunch of letters and, like, Burger King adverts that get delivered every morning.”

Thor let out a hearty laugh. “Your Midgardian rituals are strange, Young Stark. Back on Asgard we only have one king who rules the whole land, not like this King of Burgers you speak of.” He clapped Kalen on the shoulder and walked off, still chuckling to himself.

_ “Your Midgardian rituals are very strange,” _ Kalen mimicked once Thor was out of earshot, dropping his voice as low as he could.  _ “Back on Asgard, we send messages via raven because that makes perfectly logical sense. Who needs a postal service when you have  _ ravens _.” _

“They say the first sign of madness of talking to yourself, y’know.”

Kalen jumped, spinning on the spot to find Tony standing behind him. “How long have you been there?”

“Long enough to know you have a vendetta against ravens. Don’t tell Wilson. He might be related to them.”

Kalen sighed. “It’s just that I’ve not got my letter yet. From Midtown. It was supposed to arrive this week.”

Pepper walked up beside Tony, handing him one of her two cups of coffee and slipping an arm around his waist. “You do know it’s Sunday, right?”

“Mm,” Tony hummed. “No post on Sundays.”

Kalen raked his hands over his face and groaned. “Wait,” he looked up and narrowed his eyes at Tony. “Did you just meme?”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Oh, god, I think I did.” He pointed a finger at Kalen. “You’re a bad influence, now excuse me while I wash my mouth out with soap. Or… coffee.” He took a long sip from the cup.

Pepper smiled that particular smile she only got then trying to pretend whatever Tony did or said wasn’t funny. The one where she had to look at the floor to hide her laughter.

“I mean, what if my application was so bad that they just didn’t bother sending a rejection letter. Or it got delivered to the wrong place. Or the postman ate it after chasing a dog-”

Tony joined in Pepper’s laughter as Kalen hurried to correct his slip up.

“I mean the dog ate it after- Oh, whatever, you know what I was trying to say.” Kalen crossed his arms and glared at the wall.

Pepper managed to compose herself first. “It’ll arrive anytime now. It’s probably sitting in a postman’s bag waiting to be delivered tomorrow.”

“Ah,” Tony kissed Pepper’s cheek, “there’s my voice of reason. Pep’s right, Captain. Not that the image of a postman eating a letter is something I’ll forget anytime soon, of course, but she is.”

Kalen’s scowl cracked, giving way to a stifled laugh. “Shut up.”

* * *

The call had come early that same morning, halfway through Kalen’s training session with Clint and Natasha. Maria had received a rock-solid - her words - location on Loki’s sceptre, though she wouldn’t reveal her source. Within the hour, they’d piled into the Quinjet to jet off to Sokovia.

Not hearing from the team for days on end wasn’t unusual. Raiding Hydra bases took time: travelling, assessing the threat, creating a plan, actually succeeding on their mission. All the while maintaining radio silence to the rest of the world - except for emergencies - to remove the risk of a repeat of what happened after New York. God knows they didn’t want any more secrets spilling out. 

But that didn’t make it any easier on Kalen. Each time the Avengers went out, the nagging voice in his head grew louder.  _ Why aren’t you helping them? What if someone doesn’t make it back? You should be doing more.  _

Even his teachers could tell when the team were away, Kalen would draw in on himself, stumbling between classes barely saying a word, and even though he was present in lessons, he wasn’t really _ there _ . His mind would drift away to all the things that he could - that he  _ should  _ \- be doing to help the Avengers. 

_ I can help fight this, but if I leave now and people get hurt… it happens because of me. _

Pepper and Happy tried to distract him with films, board games, anything to get his mind focused on something else. But Kalen heard Peppers late night tears, saw the tension Happy held in his shoulders. 

Sleep was a near-impossible task. Each night, his brain supplied him with haunting images of Steve falling from the Helicarrier, Clint arrowless and stranded on the rooftop, the Chitauri mothership or, worst of all, Tony’s lifeless body lying on the street. 

And of course, that voice was still there.  _ What if someone gets hurt and you're not there to save them? _

Kalen broached the subject of joining missions with Tony exactly once, but the look in his eyes before he managed to replace it with his well practised smile and remark, “We’ve got a hulk on our side, how could Hydra beat that?” That brief flicker, a mix of dread and pain that felt like looking into Tony’s soul, stopped him from ever asking again. Kalen didn’t want to hurt his father any more than he’d already caused. 

Despite this, the guilt that weighed down on Kalen’s shoulders reached a toppling point. He’d been tossing and turning in bed for an hour already, fighting against his mind in the vain effort of getting some rest when a thought popped into his head.  _ You can’t help your own family, but you could help others.  _

Kalen flung back the duvet and swung his legs over the bed, resting his feet against the cold, wood floor. With a shake of his head, Kalen ran a hand over his face and got back under the duvet, staring up at the ceiling.  _ That’s a ridiculous idea. _

_ Wasn’t it? _

Before he knew, Kalen was padding across his room towards the window, which Jarvis de-tinted as he approached, and looked out over the city. Park Avenue stretched out before him  _ (the place Tony’s body had once lay) _ all the way out to Harlem River, which Kalen could just about make out before the lights from The Bronx. 

All the families that lay in between, beyond even. All the people potentially in need of help that Kalen could give. He let out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. “Jarvis,” he whispered, “activate ‘Dad Can’t Know’ Protocol.”

Tony’s crash course in all things Jarvis after the Mandarin attack had included just enough information to clue Kalen in on how to create his own protocols. There was a short pause before the AI answered, “If you insist, sir.” Jarvis has never been a fan of keeping secrets from Tony, especially when Kalen’s safety was on the line. 

“I do,” Kalen muttered, already crossing to his wardrobe and pulling out his ‘under suit’ clothes - a black tee and grey, knee-length shorts. He changed as quickly and quietly as possible, very aware that Happy was staying the night and he and Pepper were likely still awake in the living room. 

After changing, Kalen grabbed his spare pillows and stuffed them under the duvet in case Pepper decided to check in before creeping down the hallway. Voices sounded from the living room, Happy and Pepper sat facing away from him on the sofa. Kalen snuck behind them, but hung back as their conversation caught his attention. 

_ “...just don’t know what to do. It’s not like there’s a book on how to be a good godfather to a child superhero.” _

Kalen couldn’t help but smile when Happy referred to him as a ‘superhero’. Though he didn’t think he deserved the title, knowing that’s how Happy saw him gave him a warm feeling in his stomach. 

_ “You’re already a good godfather,”  _ Pepper said.  _ “Besides, this will all be over once they get back with the sceptre, and Kal’s going to a new school in a few months. It’ll be like a fresh start. Less danger and more… normal life stuff.”  _ She chuckled.  _ “I’ve almost forgotten what normal life is.” _

_ “I don’t think a life with Tony in it could ever be normal. You’re right, though,”  _ Happy sighed.  _ “I’m glad this Hydra stuff is finally over. It’s not fair on Kal; he’s like an entirely different person when they’re gone.” _

_ “But what choice do they have? Tony keeps promising he’ll quit, but then the next thing comes along, then the next.” _ There was a long pause, punctuated by the sounds of sniffling.  _ “I just hope he means it this time.” _

_ “Me too.”  _ Another pause, much shorter this time.  _ “It’s getting late. I’ll have to get to sleep soon if I have any hope of keeping up with Kal in the morning.” _

Kalen tiptoed away, not wanting to risk hanging around any longer and getting caught. Once out of earshot, he doubled his pace to the lab and headed straight for the stairs leading down into the suit workshop.

The reassembled Mark 42 suit stood in a display case in one corner while pieces of the as yet unfinished Mark 44 scattered across various workbenches. Kalen skipped straight passed, beelining for his own black and silver suit. 

Without giving himself another chance to talk himself out of it, Kalen opened the front of the suit and stepped inside. A grin crossed his face as Jarvis booted up, it had been months since his last flight, and each one left him wanting more. The freedom and joy were addicting even, though he’d never admit it to Tony, when you’re fighting gods and aliens. 

Within a minute, Kalen was soaring over Manhattan, twisting and looping with gleeful cheers while the city bustled below. He kicked the thrusters to full power and watched as buildings zipped past in a blur of colours.

As quickly as the exhilaration had started, it dropped away, replaced by the guilt that clung to him like damp clothes. He landed on a rooftop and walked to the ledge to look around, quickly recognising his surroundings with a smile. “Lights up on Washington Heights,” he sang to himself. He’d visited the neighbourhood once, after begging Tony for months, just before they first moved into the tower. “Jay, can you get into the local police scanners for me? And let me know if something big comes up elsewhere in the city.”

_ “May I ask why, Sir?” _ Despite Jarvis’ reluctance, a small box appeared on his display, a circle span as Jarvis hacked his way in.

“‘Cause I’m gonna stop it,” Kalen said simply. “I can’t help my family while I’m stuck here, but I can help other people’s.”

_ “I must advise against that. Mr Stark entrusts me with your safety.” _ The circle turned into a line, jumping up and down as voices sounded over the scanner.

“Well, he’s not going to find out about this. What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.”

Jarvis didn’t reply.

Kalen stepped over the ledge and activated the thrusters, this time flying closer to the ground and much slower as he listened in to the police scanner. His suit’s colour made him almost invisible against the night sky.

It was only about ten minutes later when Kalen flew over a relatively empty street, a car parked on the curb with two men crouched beside it. One threw his hands in the air and straightened up, kicking the tire before clutching his foot and hopping away in a cartoonish manner. Kalen caught the tail end of their conversation as he swooped down.

_ “What the hell was that supposed to achieve, other than a broken foot. Cabrón!” _ The second man said as he stood up.

Kalen landed, startling both men who had been too caught up to notice him flying overhead. He stepped out of the suit, asking Jarvis to put it in standby mode, and walked towards the men. They stared as he approached. Kalen nodded to the small collection of tools and spare tyre on the pavement, “can I help with anything?”

They exchanged a glance before the first man spoke up. “Don’t you Avengers have bigger issues than a flat tyre?”

“Well, yeah,” Kalen shrugged. “But dad’s made it pretty clear I’m  _ not  _ an Avenger, so I don’t.”

The second man grinned, clearly having a much less stressful time than the other, who he clapped on the shoulder. “Dude’s missing his car jack, can’t get the tyre off. Don’t suppose you’ve got one in your pocket?”

“No, but I have an idea.” Kalen held up a finger and hurried back to his suit. “Hey, Jay?” He asked from outside. “Can you lift that car while I change the tyre?”

_ “Of course, I’ve been looking forward to performing more menial tasks than Dum-E for years,” _ Jarvis deadpanned.

“Alright, alright! You don’t like lying to dad. I get it. Stop being so salty about it and help me out here, please.”

Jarvis didn’t reply, but the suit marched up to the front of the car and reached underneath.

“Careful-!” Kalen tried to warn, but Jarvis yanked the car up with slightly more force than was strictly necessary. The men stared blankly between Kalen and the suit. “Uh, sorry about him.” Kalen rubbed the back of his neck as he rejoined them. “He’s just a little annoyed right now.”

_ “Am not.” _

Kalen grabbed the tyre iron and knelt beside the front tyre. “‘ _ Am not’ _ ,” he mimicked in a high pitched voice, “are you five?”

_ “I’m older than you are.” _

The second man burst into hearty laughter while the first gawped at the scene before him. Kalen removed the lugnuts and rolled up his sleeves before taking the tyre off and setting it on the ground. “Here,” the man said, handing him the replacement. “Hey, Jes, this twelve-year-old can change a tyre better than you.”

“Come on! I’m fourteen.”

The man shrugged, still grinning. “Same difference. I’m Liam, by the way.”

Kalen positioned the new tyre and set about retightening the lugnuts. “Nice to meet you, I’m Kalen.”

“Yeah,” Liam’s smile grew, “I know who you are. That wormhole was  _ crazy _ ! I saw you fly in firsthand.”

Kalen’s breath caught at the mention of New York. The experience haunted the back of his mind, looming in the background of everything he did as a constant reminder of the fragility of ‘normality’. “Yeah, it was pretty crazy.” Kalen tried to hide the falter in his voice and flashed a press-worthy smile. He looked over to Jes who was pointedly looking away with his arms folded over his chest, a hint of red in his cheeks. “Do you want me to take a look at your foot?” He asked, noting how he leaned slightly to the side.

“What, are you a doctor now as well as a mechanic  _ and  _ a superhero,” Jes snapped, though his expression quickly turned regretful.

“When you grow up with Tony Stark, you learn how to change a tyre.” Kalen didn’t want to make Jes feel worse, so kept his voice light. “Plus, I’m  _ not  _ a superhero, just a guy in a tin can who keeps ending up in the wrong place. Jarvis can scan your foot, if you like, let you know if it’s broken.”

Jes gave a sheepish smile. “Thanks.”

There was an awkward silence as nothing happened. Kalen paused the lugnut he was tightening. “Uh, Jay, if you don’t mind?” Still nothing. Kalen sighed, “I’ll make Dum-E wear the dunce cap again.”

The suit’s head wordlessly turned towards Jes and ran a scan of his foot up to his knee. Kalen couldn’t help but smirk at Jarvis’ passive-aggressiveness.  _ “No fractures detected, but I suspect significant bruising for a couple of days.” _ Jarvis turned back towards the car, not saying another word.

Before Kalen could finish, a police car pulled up and two officers stepped out, both marvelling at the peculiar sight. 

“This is one I haven’t seen before.” Said an officer, her voice carrying an air of bemusement. 

Kalen finished up quickly and stood, giving the officers a polite smile. “I know right, when was the last time you saw someone with a flat tyre?”

Both officers chuckled at his joke. “Have you got everything here handled?”

Kalen nodded and gave a quick explanation. “But I’ve just about finished more, actually Jay you’re good to put the car down. Gently though, a full tyre is no good if the suspension is shot.”

As Jarvis carefully set the car down, the officer’s radio crackled into life.  _ “We’ve got a robbery in progress, a store on 192nd. Eye witness claims one suspect, possibly armed, approach with caution.”  _ The officers turned and left in a flash of red and blue lights. 

Kalen glances between Jes and Liam, “You two are good, right?”

Liam grinned. “Of course, we do actually know how to change a tyre. You just did it with style. Go get that bad guy.” He stepped forward and clapped Kalen’s shoulder. 

Kalen jerked away from the touch, one hand already raised to block an attack. Turns out training with two master spies improves your reflexes. Kalen plastered a smile on his face and tried to play his reflex off as finger guns as he backed towards his suit. “You bet.”

He took back control of the suit and shot into the air without looking back. “Why can’t you just have one normal conversation,” he chastised himself. “Not everyone in the world is out to get you.” But he’d been burned too many times to know better.

Shaking his head, Kalen refocused on the task at hand. “Jay, how many stores on 192nd?”

_ “Three, sir. Would you like me to highlight them?”  _

Kalen was glad Jarvis chose to cooperate. “Yes please, and can you X-ray them, too?”

He watched as three outlines appeared on his display, each corresponding to one of the stores. As Kalen got closer, Jarvis was able to complete the scan. One of the stores was empty. The other two, however, a very different story. 

They were on opposite corners of a crossroads. In one, a person crouched down behind a shelf with one hand to his ear - presumably the eyewitness who phoned it in. In the other store stood two figures, one with their hands thrust straight up in the air, the other facing away from Kalen.

Kalen landed right outside the door, which, thankfully, had been wedged open - fiddly door handles and Iron Man gauntlets didn’t often mix well. The attacker spun around as Kalen walked in, gun in hand. She wore a black jumper with the hood pulled high to hide her face, but from what he could see, she wasn’t much older than Kalen. Her hand held an almost imperceptible tremor. 

Kalen wasn’t too worried for his own safety, a bullet would do nothing more than dent the suit, but if she realised that and turned back on the store owner… That would be a different story. 

“Stay back!” She demanded, a quiver in her voice. “Stay back or I’ll shoot.”

Kalen held out his hands as non threateningly as was possible in the suit. He looked over her shoulder to the owner who still had his hands high in the air. “Sir, are you okay?”

“O-Okay?” He stammered. “Of course I’m fucking not okay! A lunatic‘s trying to rob my store!”

Kalen rolled his eyes, grateful for the suit hiding it, because  _ of course _ he knew that. But, reading between the lines suggested he wasn’t hurt at least, which was what Kalen really wanted to know. Now he just had to keep it that way, he opened his mouth to speak, but the woman got there first. 

“I’m not a lunatic! I just need money.” She glanced out of the shop window, no police had arrived yet, but it couldn’t be long until they did. After a brief moment of seemingly weighing her options, the woman threw her hood back to reveal a tear ridden, hollow-cheeked face. 

“Please, it’s my little brother. He’s sick and I-“ She bit her lip as if suddenly regretting the decision. “I can’t afford to keep our apartment, let alone food and medicine. I didn’t even plan to do this, the thought just popped into my head and before I could stop it-”

Kalen understood the last part. Too many times he’d acted on impulse without thinking how it would affect others.  _ Running to save Reece from the drone. Flying into the wormhole. Jumping onto the Helicarrier.  _ “And before you could stop it, it happened.”

The woman nodded, her eyes seeking Kalen’s through the suit. He opened it and stepped out, leaving himself undefended. 

“Look,” he said calmly, “as far as I can see, no lasting damage has been done. If you run now, maybe I’m too slow and don’t catch you.”

The woman nodded again, shaking tears from her eyes. 

“Um, excuse me. What about me? She waved a gun in my face.”

“Has she taken any money?” Kalen asked.

“Well… no, but-“

“So you’re not losing anything here.” Kalen took a step closer to the woman. She still had the gun aimed at his heart, but when you live with Clint and Natasha, you learn how to spot a fake - and it wasn’t a good one at that. He lowered his voice so the owner couldn’t hear. “And maybe I’ll see you around the Avengers Tower, where we happen to need a part-time receptionist, and you happen to know one of the owners.”

In the distance, sirens could be heard. The woman glanced out of the window again, then back to Kalen. “Thank you,” she whispered, pulling her hood back up and shoving the gun into the front pocket of her jumper. She started to leave, but turned back. “Jordan.”

Kalen gave Jordan a single nod, and with that, she left. Melting into the night. 

“You’re letting her get away with this?” The owner was furious, and rightfully so. But as Kalen said, no real damage had been done. 

Kalen jogged out into the street and looked it up and down, pretending to look for Jordan. “Sorry, Sir, but I can’t see her anywhere.” He said as he returned, the comment caused the owner’s face to turn red. 

“Unbelievable,” he muttered. “The Daily Bugle is right about you. Not to be trusted! And now what, you’ve turned some sort of- of-” He waved his arms around, trying to find the right words. “Of backwards vigilante who lets people get away with their crimes?”

The flash of red and blue lights stopped his crusade of words. The two officers from before, seeing the apparent lack of danger, hurried inside, though their hands still hovered over their holsters. One of the officers quickly set about sweeping the shop floor while the other stayed put. 

“What happened here? Where’s the suspect?”

Kalen stepped forward, keeping his face sombre. “She got away, ma’am.”

“Got away?” The owner scoffed, drawing the officers attention. “You let her go, more like.”

The officer rounded back on Kalen; an eyebrow raised as she waited for an explanation. 

“She got past me and bolted for the door,” Kalen explained. “I was too slow, and she made it out onto the street. By the time I got outside, she was just gone. Probably ran down one of the alleyways, I don’t know this area well.”

The owner scoffed again, but the officer paid little attention. One of the good things that comes with flying a nuke into a wormhole is a level of clout that’s hard to argue with. 

She pulled out her notepad. “Could you describe the assailant for me?”

“She wore a black hoodie that hid most of her face. Umm…” Kalen made a small show of trying to remember details. “Brown eyes, black hair. About a foot taller than me. Sorry, ma’am, that’s all I got.”

The officer turned to ask the shop owner, though Jordan had her back to him when removing her hood so he knew nothing more than Kalen already said. 

With very little to go on, the officers left only a few minutes after arriving. Kalen stepped back into his suit and started for the door when the owner began yelling again.

“You’ll be reading about this everywhere, you know! It’ll go viral, and then everyone will know the Bugle’s right about you. Can’t be trusted!”

Kalen stepped into the street and flew away without giving him the satisfaction of replying. He began to panic as buildings spread past. What if he’d just ruined everything, his reputation, Tony’s reputation. There was no way Midtown would accept him if they found out he’d let a criminal go free. And that would mean Tony finds out about this, and-

_ “Sir, your heart rate is spiking. I recommend following your breathing routine.” _

Kalen stopped abruptly, landing on the closest rooftop and counting his breathing. As he began to gain control, his thoughts became more grounded too. For one, this guy had no proof - Jarvis’ scans revealed no security cameras along the whole street. And second, Kalen was fairly sure the Daily Bugle was similar to Buzzfeed, but so, so much worse. He’d never visited the site, but it was generally dismissed as one of the least reliable sources,  _ ever _ .

So, with a calm mind, Kalen took off again in search of the next person who needed help. And, for the first time, his guilt felt just a little lighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this far everyone! Would be awesome of y'all to leave a kudos if you enjoyed.
> 
> Let me know if you enjoyed this new style, I'm about to start writing the Civil War section and would love some advice!
> 
> Thanks again <3


	2. If I'm Given the Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the high from his night patrolling, Kalen's spirits plunge once again when he learns about Clint's injury. Fueled by guilt, he and Tony take the next steps towards Ultron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks for coming back for chapter two, that's very awesome of you!
> 
> I know it's been a week since my last update but I'm slightly ashamed to say that I haven't even started work on Civil War yet, but instead, I've been working on Whumptober posts which is hopefully pretty cool. Once I've got a few of them tucked away, I'll get right on Civil War. Besides that, I'm working on an Irondad Aladdin AU, though it's still very early in planning and all that goodness, as well as a slow burn Spideychelle fic which I'm super excited about! 
> 
> Chapter title is taken from Yorktown from Hamilton (as always)
> 
> Enough of all that, let's get on with the chapter!

When Kalen woke the next morning, he didn’t feel quite as refreshed as he usually did. Still, he sat up and stretched his arms out with a yawn as memories of last night raced through his mind. Everything from Jes and Liam, to Jordan, to the drunken tourists he’d walked back to their hotel after a few hours patrolling the streets. A bittersweet smile crept onto his face. 

Kalen sat there for two full minutes, waiting for the memories to fade away, as all dreams do, and get replaced by the all too familiar guilt he’d grown accustomed to. 

But they stayed. 

When Kalen realised they weren’t disappearing, he laughed - actually, properly laughed - at the absurdity that maybe, for once, he’d done something right. He was surprised to find a tear slip down his cheek. 

He wiped it away as he threw back the duvet and stood up. The grin that had plastered across his face faded as he remembered how angry Jarvis had been. Tentatively, he glanced up to the ceiling. “Morning, Jay.”

Jarvis paused just long enough to make Kalen think he hadn’t been forgiven yet before answering.  _ “Good morning, sir.”  _ He sounded as spritely as ever, all hints of his passive-aggressive nature last night dropped.  _ “It’s 6:46 am. The weather in New York is currently 40 degrees, and strong winds carry a high chance of bringing Mr Stark home before you leave for school.” _

A weight lifted off of Kalen’s shoulders, the team coming back meant things could go back to normal. Meant the biggest worry Kalen faced was whether Thor ate his cereal, or if Tony had told Steve embarrassing stories about his childhood. Instead of whether his family was about to shrink, or why he wasn’t doing more to help them. 

Accept now, he  _ was  _ doing more. Now, he was helping people. 

“Are you for real? ’Cause Jay if you’re lying I swear I’ll never forgive you.”

_ “Have I ever lied to you, sir? I predict the Quinjet to land at 7:32, Agent Hill and Doctor Cho are both en route.” _

“Wait.” Fear gnawed at the bottom of Kalen’s stomach. “Why is Doctor Cho coming?”

_ “It seems Agent Barton sustained an injury from a Hydra weapon. I’m afraid that’s all I know.” _

“All you know?” Kalen asked. “Or all dad let you tell me?”

Jarvis’ lack of reply was enough of an answer itself. 

And just like that, Kalen’s guilt came crashing back. That little voice shouted in the back of his mind. 

_ Why weren’t you there? You could’ve stopped this. If Clint doesn’t make it, it’s on you.  _

“Shut up!” Kalen didn’t mean to shout, but it left his mouth before he could stop it. “I-I don’t mean you, Jay. I just…” He trailed off, head dropping into his hands as he blew out a shaky breath between his teeth. “I just should have been there.” His voice was little more than a whisper. 

“Kal?” Someone called from outside his door. “Is everything okay? Thought I heard shouting.”

It took a few seconds for Kalen to register the words, even more to remember he had to reply. He forced an air of lightness into his voice, though it came out strained. “Yeah, Happy, I’m fine.”

“Mind if I come in?”

“No, go for it.” Kalen tugged at his duvet to make it lie straight and sat down, looking up as Happy walked in. 

Happy wore a white T-shirt and sweats, far from his usual suit ensemble but was it early, after all. He scanned Kalen’s face, easily picking up on the unease he’d tried to bury under a smile. 

“Jarvis told you, didn’t he. About Barton.” 

“Yeah,” Kalen dropped the smile; he wasn’t even fooling himself with it. “Do you think Uncle Clint’s going to be okay?”

Happy crossed the room, sitting beside Kalen on the bed and looking into his eyes. “I may not know anything about half of what those guys get up to, but I know that Helen Cho is the best genecit- geniet-“

Kalen dropped his head and chuckled. “Geneticist.”

“Yeah, what you said. Anyway, I know she’s the best because your dad hired her. If he believes she can look after the team, then she can. Simple as that.”

Kalen met Happy’s eyes again. “You’re right. Last time she was here she told me all about her research with organic tissue. She’d even managed to bond tissue to living cells. It’s pretty cool stuff.”

“It all sounds very science fiction to me.”

“Science fiction gives way to science  _ fact. _ ” Kalen gestured around the room. “The very notion of Jarvis, machines with human-like levels of intelligence, dates all the way back to at least 1872. And it wasn’t long ago that flying around in a suit of armour was something we could only dream about.”

“I think I’ll leave all of that stuff to Tony, the science and superhero and all. But if you ever need a bodyguard, chauffeur, pilot, or just an average guy to talk to, you know I’m here, right?”

“I know,” Kalen nodded. “And you’re way above average.”

“Whatever you say, kid.” Happy glanced across to the door. ”Hill will be here any time soon. I’d best be ready for her.” He stood and headed back for the door. 

Kalen called after him just as he stepped outside. “Wait!” Happy paused, one hand on the door frame, and looked back. “Thank you, Happy. Thanks for being here.”

“Don’t mention it.” Happy pulled the door shut, leaving Kalen to his thoughts.

Thoughts that, as he’d come to realise, we’re sometimes the last thing he wanted to be alone with. This was one of those times. Sure, if he’s tinkering with new suit ideas, he welcomed the non-stop nature of his mind. Less so when the only thing that’s non-stop is the voice. 

_ “Would you like me to play your morning playlist, sir?” _

“Yeah, why not. Put it on shuffle, you can pick the songs.”

Kalen was eighty percent convinced Tony programmed a protocol into Jarvis designed to help calm his mind. Whenever Kalen’s anxiety began to spike, Jarvis would suggest listening to music or strike up a conversation to take his mind off of it, when that didn’t work, he’d turn to breathing exercises or inform Tony, Happy, or Pepper. It was a little embarrassing, sometimes, to have Tony come running when he had problems like Hydra to deal with, but Kalen was always grateful in the end.

“Oh, by the way,” Kalen cracked a small smile. “I distinctly remember you telling me as a kid that eating carrots will let me see in the dark, and that never happened no matter how many I ate. You can take back the comment about never lying to me.”

_ “Maybe you just didn’t eat enough, sir.” _

Kalen’s smile grew as Jarvis played Cell Block Tango, it hadn’t gone unnoticed how that song got played twice as often as any other - maybe Jarvis had a favourite. But even the beautiful tones of the six merry murderesses couldn’t Kalen tear from his own head.

In reality, he knew Happy was right. Knew that Doctor Cho could handle almost anything thrown her way, as could the Avengers. But the voice didn’t seem to listen to reason.

_ Clint shouldn’t have been hurt in the first place. You should have been there.  _

After towel drying his hair and running it through with a comb until it looked presentable did Kalen leave his room. He intended to head to the kitchen for breakfast, but he heard voices coming from down the corridor and chose to follow them instead.

As he rounded the corner, Kalen saw the backs of Happy and Maria Hill walking away from the lift. “Hey!” He called as nonchalantly as possible. “Morning, Agent Hill.” He hoped that acting as if he belonged would lead to not being kept in the dark as he usually was.

Both Happy and Hill turned. “Nice to see you again, Kalen. Just wish it was under better circumstances.” Hill held a tablet in one hand. Kalen risked a glance at it as he walked closer, but didn’t have enough time to make anything out before Hill noticed him looking and tilted it away.

Kalen faltered midstep.  _ Of course you can’t read it, you left the team without you. _ He nodded at the tablet. “I see your SHIELD training hasn’t decayed, still in the business of secrets.” It came out harsher sounding than he’d intended, but he didn’t bother correcting himself.

Hill raised an eyebrow and studied Kalen’s face for a short moment. “Sensitive information is best kept on a need to know basis.”

“Sensitive?” Kalen asked, hurriedly closing the distance. “You mean they found the sceptre this time? I mean, I know you said it the location came from a trustworthy source, but it’s been months of nothing. It’s actually over?”

It was Kalen’s turn to study Hill’s face. As he spoke, her expression turned into one of shock. It was more emotion than he’d seen her display. He chuckled. 

“There’s something else, what is it?” When Happy eyed him, Kalen explained himself further. “She’s pretending to be shocked to make me think I’ve hit the truth, but there’s always something deeper with a SHIELD agent. It’s a nice move, by the way,” Kalen smirked, feeling, for once, to have pulled one over on Hill “But I live with Clint and Nat, you pick up a thing or two.” 

Hill couldn’t keep a smile from her mouth as she shook her head gently. “You’d have made a good agent yourself if the timing was better. You’re right, of course, though I don’t think I need to tell you that.” She turned to Happy. “Maybe we let the kid in the briefing.”

Happy folded his arms, his face stern. “I say the kid should take Cole for a walk. A  _ long  _ walk.”

“I’m not a kid.” Kalen snapped. Happy and Hill’s disbelieving eyes fell on him. “Okay well, maybe I am. But I’m different from other kids. I know that, we all know that. I can handle all of this, superpowered people, evil organisations,  _ aliens in New York. _ I was eleven then, and I handled it fine. That was three years ago.” Maybe ‘ _ fine _ ’ was a bit of an exaggeration, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Kal, I’m your Godfather. It’s my responsibility to protect you.” He dropped his head. “And I know I’ve failed you before-”

“Happy, you were  _ mind-controlled _ . That was Loki, not you. Besides, you think keeping information from me is protecting me, but it does more harm than good. I can put two and two together. Jarvis being cagey with details plus Doctor Cho being called in from Seoul equals Uncle Clint’s in a real bad way. If I know the facts, I could be able to help Doctor Cho set up when she arrives because if Clint dies and I do nothing, then it’s on me.”

That was  _ one hell _ of an overshare. But Kalen wasn’t going to back down now. He’d locked into an inadvertent staring contest with Happy while talking, but as soon as ‘ _ it’s on me’ _ left his mouth, Happy looked away.

“Please, Happy. Please let me help.”

Happy looked at the wall, then the floor, then the ceiling, then shared a long look with Hill before finally meeting Kalen’s eyes again. “Let’s take this to the meeting room, then. Doctor Cho will be here soon.” He turned and walked down the corridor. Hill gave Kalen a nod and followed. 

Kalen let out a long breath. “Take that,” he whispered to the voice. “Next time, I’m gonna be there.” He jogged to catch up to the others, feeling just a little lighter.

* * *

Kalen felt a little silly as the three of them gathered around the meeting table that could easily hold ten. Happy and Kalen sat at either side while Hill stood at the head as she connected her tablet to the holo-screen. Hill and Happy, now wearing a black dress and suit respectively, while Kalen - who hadn’t expected to be allowed in - was dressed in jeans and his  _ ‘Alpaca my bags’ _ shirt. 

It felt very official. Though the Avengers Tower had been his home for three years, and he’d helped Tony and Pepper with the remodel, it was also a place where serious work took place. And this was the first time Kalen was really experiencing that. Sure, he knew about the Hydra raids and got told dramatic retellings, mostly by Thor, but he knew Tony kept a lot of the details from him.

Hill pulled up two faces on the holo-screen. “Wolfgang von Strucker, and Doctor List,” she explained, “Strucker was one of the remaining Heads of Hydra, now in NATO’s hands. List was his lead scientist. Stark caught him trying to delete his files, dealt with him, and sent copies to me and Jarvis’ system.”

“Uh, when you say dealt with?” Kalen asked.

Hill flicked her eyes up from the tablet to look at Kalen. “Dead.” Despite the lack of emotion in Hill’s voice and the multitude of crimes List had committed, killing the man didn’t sit well with Kalen. 

Hill continued her briefing, unaffected. “There’s a lot of information to look through here, I’ve only had time to scan it on the way over, but it seems Strucker and List were focused on two things. Experimenting with Chitauri weaponry stolen from SHIELD, and human enhancement.”

Happy leaned forward in his seat, hands balled into fists. “Human enhancement as in giving them tech, or giving them superpowers?”

“The latter.”

“Did they succeed?”

Hill paused. “Not for a long time, but eventually, yes.”

Kalen sucked in a sharp breath and tilted his head back as he focused on controlling his breathing. Human enhancement meant unknowns, Kalen’s least favourite quantity to deal with. It meant new people, friend or foe - though likely foe, judging by the fact they were with Hydra - with new powers. New dangers and new worries.

Hill continued her briefing. “Sokovia’s had a rough history, war, rebellion, protests. It’s nowhere special, but it’s on the way to everywhere special.” She swiped away Strucker and List to show a video of two people amid a protest; it looked as though they were on the front line. 

She pointed up at them. “Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, twins, orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building.” Another swipe revealed a picture of a destroyed building, fallen in on itself with only half of one wall remaining upright, the rest little more than a pile of rubble. “Got themselves on SHIELD’s radar as a potential threat to world security for partaking and organising protests against the Avengers and searching for ways to bring us down. Unfortunately, that got them on Hydra’s radar too. When the twins volunteered for enhancement experiments, Strucker and List welcomed them both.”

“Kal, maybe you could look into the specifics, some of it looked far beyond me. But, from what I gathered, he’s got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Her thing is neuroelectric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation.”

“And for those of us who don’t understand half of what you just said?” Happy asked.

“He’s fast and she’s weird,” Hill answered.

Kalen laughed. “You might want to skip straight to that when you brief Uncle Steve, modern science is one subject I can’t get him into. Modern literature, though...” he clicked his tongue, “Guess that’s the power of Harry Potter, the guy couldn’t get enough.”

“Hang on,” Happy raised a hand towards Hill. “You said they volunteered, who would do that?”

Hill shook her head. “It’s nuts.” 

“Steve volunteered for Doctor Erskine, turned out pretty well for him,” Kalen shrugged.

“That was different. He was at war.”

Kalen looked up to the destroyed building on the holo-screen. He’d experienced how it felt to have your home taken away that way, but he had the safety net of Tony’s other properties to fall back on. The Maximoff’s, he guessed, didn’t have that luxury. Not to mention becoming orphaned at the same time. Kalen knew how that felt, as well, if only briefly. “They’re at war, too.”

A long silence settled over the meeting room. No one met each other’s eyes. It’s easy to see a bad guy and dismiss them as evil for the sake of being evil, easy to take on a two-dimensional view of their actions. But as he looked deeper, saw the reasoning behind their actions, the similarities to heroes weren’t lost on Kalen. He found it scary to see how easily both sides could have gone the other way.

The Maximoff’s only saw the Avengers for the damage they caused rather than the damage they prevented - and Kalen knew they weren’t the only ones. He was sure the Avengers would only see the Maximoff’s in the same light. Not because they wanted to, but because - if they were anything like Kalen - paranoia crept into their everyday life as a shadow, not always noticed, but still there.

“The sceptre,” Kalen said abruptly, needing a way to get out of his head. “You said they got the sceptre.”

“Right.” Hill cleared her throat. “Yes, Stark retrieved it after his run-in with List. The files he sent me contain pages of research, again I haven’t had time to look through it thoroughly, but it seems to be the source of the Maximoffs powers. Or, at least what gave them powers in the first place. What’s different about the Maximoff’s to the volunteer’s who didn’t survive, unknown.”

More unknowns,  _ great _ . Just what Kalen wanted to hear. Still, it was better than being kept in the dark, at least this way he knew what he didn’t know.

_ “Mister Hogan, Doctor Cho has arrived at the building, she’s making her way up now.” _

“Thanks, Jay.” Happy braced his hands on the edge of the table to push out his chair to stand, but Kalen beat him to it, jumping to his feet unexpectedly.

“Uh, I’ll go.” He turned to Hill. “Could you send anything on Uncle Clint’s condition to Uncle Bruce’s lab, please?”

Hill nodded, “Of course. We’re almost wrapped here, I’ll be along in a few minutes.”

“Thank you.” Kalen darted from the room before Hill or Happy could ask any questions. He didn’t want to admit the voice in his head was telling him everything was his fault, and that this was the only way he could see to remedy that.

Pulling the door shut with a gentle click, he whispered to the voice. “I’m going to make it right. I’m going to fix this.”

“What was that?”

Kalen whirled on the spot and came face to face with Pepper. She wore a white jacket and skirt combo with her hair pulled into a neat bun. “Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself again.”

Pepper smiled and, thankfully, didn’t question him about it further. Instead, she nodded to the meeting room door. “Did they kick you out again?”

“No, actually. They invited me to join them, after a certain amount of begging.”

Pepper folded her arms. “Are you sure that’s-”

“What dad would want?” Kalen finished for her. “No. But what I want, yeah.”

“Wise. I was going to say wise.”

“Oh.” Kalen smiled sheepishly. “Jury’s still out on that one. Hey, are you going to work early? Only you’re dressed like it, but it’s not even half seven.”

Pepper nodded. “Unfortunately. Guterman, head of logistics - I think you’ve met him once - called an early morning meeting about a storage facility upstate which, in his words at least, has ‘zero security presence and high-value Industries equipment.’”

“Sounds like an exciting day at the office.” Kalen glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the lift. “I’m sorry to have to go so fast but, uh,” he scratched the back of his neck, expecting Pepper to object to his next words. “Doctor Cho is on her way up, and I said I’d meet her..”

Pepper’s face fell, and she reached forward to rest a hand on Kalen’s shoulder. “Jarvis told me about Clint. Go, help Doctor Cho set up, see what you can do to help.”

Kalen lunged forward, wrapping Pepper in a hug. She was startled, at first, but quickly looped her arms around him in return. Kalen was so used to being told not to get involved, and being told off whenever he did, that Pepper not only agreeing, but actively encouraging him to put his skills to use and help out wasn’t something he’d even imagined could happen.

“Thank you.” He pulled away, beaming, and started to leave. He only made it half a step before turning back. “Come over on your lunch break, I mean, I’ll be at school, but I’m sure dad can’t wait to see you.”

Pepper smiled and nodded. “I’ll be here.”

With a wave, Kalen jogged down to the lift, arriving just as the doors opened and Doctor Cho, along with two others walked out, wheeling a machine between them. “Doctor Cho, hi,” he called out as he approached. “Glad to have you here.”

Doctor Cho smiled warmly. “I’m glad I’m back.” She gestured behind her. “I hope you don’t mind. I brought some colleagues from U-GIN.”

“No, absolutely. The more the merrier.” Kalen started towards Bruce’s lab, beckoning for them to follow. He pointed to the machine. “Is that it? The Regeneration Cradle you were telling me about?”

“No,” Doctor Cho answered. “The Cradle is back at our lab in Seoul. This is based on the same technology just much more portable, if less efficient.” Upon seeing the shock on Kalen’s face, she continued hurriedly. “Don’t worry, Barton’s still in good hands. This machine works exactly as the Cradle and achieves identical results, just a little slower.”

Kalen wrung his hands. “I haven’t seen anything on his condition, but I know Hydra were experimenting with Chitauri weapons. I’ve seen them up close, and it’s not pretty.” Kalen ducked back, taking hold of one corner of the machine to help carry it up the stairs.

“Last I heard from Tony, Clint wasn’t deteriorating, but he also said to prep a full treatment.” Doctor Cho backed into the lab, pulling the Not-Quite-Regeneration-Cradle behind her.

Kalen followed the small group inside, not bothering to close the door as he immediately headed for the holo-screen on the opposite wall. “Jay, can you bring up the information Agent Hill sent over?” Kalen’s eyes darted around the screen as he tried to take in everything at once. Medicine wasn’t his speciality, or even an area he knew more than you could learn from binge-watching ten and a half series of Grey’s Anatomy, but data was data.

_ You should have been there. Why weren’t you there? _

“Kal, fill us in. How is he?”

“Oh, um.” Kalen glanced around, Doctor Cho and her colleagues were setting up the machine in the centre of the room. He studied the screen again, this time in a more focus manner that allowed the information to sink in. “He got hit in the right hypochondrium and right lumbar regions, single shot but a large affected area. As far as I can tell it’s only skin deep, though he’s lost…” He moved to read a different set of data. “Two-ish pints of blood. BP 80/60 but holding fairly steady.”

“How long until they arrive?”

“Now.” Hill appeared in the doorway, answering Doctor Cho’s question. “Are you ready?”

Doctor Cho and her colleagues spent a few silent seconds finishing setting up the Not-Quite-Cradle. It looked like a hospital stretcher, but with a thin, metal archway that could slide the length of the cradle complete with outlets and sensors - the exact function of which Kalen didn’t know, not yet, at least. “We’re good,” she said eventually. “Let’s go.”

Kalen waited until all four women had left the room before following, still unsure as to whether or not he would have to argue his case for being there, and not wanting to risk losing. He saw the Avenger’s Quinjet fly past the window as he hurried to the landing bay, stopping just behind Hill.

As soon as the Quinjet door opened, Doctor Cho and her colleagues ran forward to assess Clint. Kalen debated following them but chose to stay back with Hill rather than get in their way. A few seconds later, they wheeled Clint off the jet on a stretcher, Natasha by his side. She glanced up briefly, trying to fix Kalen with a reassuring glance but it didn’t land.

Hill strode up the ramp onto the jet, Kalen followed close behind.

“Son of Stark!” Thor greeted heartily as he disembarked.

Kalen felt some of the tension in his shoulders melt away. “Hey, Uncle Thor.” He eyed the case Thor held. It was angled away from him so he couldn’t see inside, but they glow it cast on Thor’s arm left no questions as to what it held. “You got it, then?” It still seemed surreal that the raids were coming to an end.

“Indeed,” he nodded. “We finally have Loki’s sceptre back in safe hands.” Thor carried on down the ramp and into the tower, Kalen turned his attention ahead where Hill was already debriefing Steve.

“Actually, he’s the boss,” Tony said, pointing to Steve. “I just pay for everything and design everything and make everyone look cooler.” Tony sat in the pilot’s chair, though had only half turned around, keeping most of his face hidden, and there was an underlying flatness to his voice. Nobody else seemed to notice, though no one else had spent over fourteen years learning the subtle and not so subtle differences to Tony regular voice, and his press voice.

“What’s the word on Strucker?” Steve asked, walking off the jet side by side with Hill. Bruce wasn’t far behind, leaving after giving Kalen a muted greeting.

Kalen stepped closer to Tony, who still hadn’t moved from the chair. “Uncle Bruce seems shaken up.”

“Unexpected Code Green,” Tony said with a wave of his hand. “He just needs some time alone.”

“And you?” Kalen forced a jokey tone into his voice. “I was kinda hoping for a more enthusiastic greeting.”

Tony ran his face through his hands “Sorry, Captain. I just-” He turned fully, seeing Kalen for the first time in days. The second he did, his eyes filled with tears.

“Dad, are you okay?” Kalen practically ran forward, wrapping Tony in a tight hug as he stood from the chair. “Is it Uncle Clint? ‘Cause I’ve seen Doctor Cho’s Cradle thing and it looks badass.”

Tony snorted a wet laugh, quickly burying his face in Kalen’s shoulder where he remained for a few seconds before pulling away, holding Kalen at arm’s length. “Trust you to think some tech is badass.”

“Well, you’ve not seen it yet, but I’m sure you’ll agree.”

Tony smiled, but it soon faded. “It was the enhanced, one of them, at least. She can… I don’t even know she did, but I saw… some things. You…” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, it wasn’t real. I know it wasn’t real, and seeing you just now  _ made _ it not real. And I really didn’t want it to be real.”

“Okay, you’ve just said  _ real  _ way too many times,” Kalen chuckled. Quizzing Tony about what the Maximoff girl showed him wasn’t something Tony needed right now. Kalen could gather enough information to have a good guess at what he saw, and questions were most definitely not welcome - Kalen knew that from experience. There was a reason he still hadn’t told Tony the truth about New York.

“Point is, you’re fine. I’m fine. Even Barton’s gonna be fine if Cho’s tech is as  _ badass  _ as you say it is.” Tony put his arm around Kalen’s shoulders, pulling him into his side as they walked off the Quinjet. “What do you say we go see how he’s doing?”

Kalen nodded. He didn’t quite trust his voice not to give away the guilt that was growing inside of him with every new thing he learned about the mission.

As they approached the door to Bruce’s lab, Tony stopped and turned to Kalen. “Wait here, Captain.” He patted Kalen’s shoulder. “Don’t want to crowd Doctor Cho while she’s working.”

Kalen rolled his eyes. “That’s not the reason you don’t want me in there.”

“It’s part of it. Besides, you gonna bust my chops for looking out for you?”

“Just go see how he is, please.”

With a salute, Tony jogged for the door and headed inside. Kalen took a few steps forward so he could see in the window - and to put more distance between him and the sceptre which stood upright on one of the workbenches in the main lab. Inside, Clint lay on the bed part of the cradle, the archway positioned over his abdomen as it worked to fix his injury. 

Clint turned his head as Tony walked in - a good sign - and cracked a smile at whatever inevitable joke Tony had made before saying something in reply. His eyes drifted to Kalen in the window and, with only the slightest hint in his face that the movement caused pain, gave him a thumbs up. With that, Kalen’s fear for Clint’s survival chances dissipated, but the guilt still clung to him like vines to a fence. He returned the gesture with a goofy grin.

Bruce crossed the lab towards him, flicking through the tablet in his hand.

“Is that Agent Hill’s debriefing?”

Bruce nodded. “Plus a lot of research on the sceptre, though looks like List managed to delete most of the data before Tony got to him.”

“That’s more than a little annoying.” Kalen studied Bruce’s face; he hadn’t done more than the briefest glance up from the tablet. “Are you alright? Dad told me there was an unexpected Code Green-”

Bruce waved a hand dismissively. “I’m used to them by now.” He turned the tablet so Kalen could see the pictures of the Maximoff twins from their old SHIELD files. “The enhanced. It’s human experimentation. Strucker and List didn’t care how many died before it finally stuck. There’s no knowing what these two kids went through.”

For the first time, Kalen really looked at the pictures. They were slightly grainy, presumably because they were taken from CCTV footage, but it was hard not to notice their age. Sixteen or seventeen, if Kalen had to guess, and the photos couldn’t be more than a couple years old at most.

“Maybe, if we can find them, we could offer them help. A place to stay, at the very least, I don’t suppose Hydra let their prized possessions out of the bunker.”

“Steve said he saw cells. No more than a few paces wide, single bed, nothing else. As for help, though, they hated the Avengers even before Hydra got their claws in. They might not want it from us.”

“We still have to try.”

“That we do.”

But how was he supposed to help someone who didn’t want his help? How could he even find the Maximoff’s without massively invading their privacy and hacking into every security camera in Sokovia - hell, the world possibly with powers like Pietro’s?

Before he could come up with an answer, Tony left Bruce’s lab. 

“How’s he doing?” Bruce asked as Tony walked over.

“Unfortunately he’s still Barton.”

“That’s terrible.”

“He’s fine. He’s thirsty.” 

Bruce headed into his lab while Tony and Kalen started for the sceptre. “All right. Look alive Jarvis,” Tony said. “It’s playtime. We’ve only got a couple days with this joystick, so let’s make the most of it.”

“Couple days?” Kalen asked. “I kinda thought Uncle Thor would want it back on Asgard as soon as.”

“Right. We’re going to throw a Happy-Hunting-Hydra-is-Over-Party, Thor’s headed back right after. In the meantime, thought us and Bruce could give the wonder stick a once over, figure out how Strucker managed human enhancement.”

Kalen looked the sceptre up and down. “Yeah, human enhancement. No biggie.”

“Didn’t think you were one to back down from a challenge.”

“Who says I am.”

Tony chuckled, moving his attention to the sceptre. “Jay, update us on the structural and compositional analysis.”

_ “The sceptre is alien. There are elements I can’t quantify.” _

“So there are elements you can?”

_ “The jewel appears to be a protective housing for something inside, something powerful.” _

Kalen furrowed his brow. “Something powerful as in a reactor?”

_ “Like a computer. I believe I’m deciphering code.” _

“Code?” Kalen looked up to Tony. He could tell they both had the same thought running through their minds. “Do you think this is it?”

Tony stared at the sceptre for a long, silent moment. Eventually, he let out a breath. “This could be the key to Ultron.”

* * *

“Are you sure he’s going to be okay?” Natasha asked Doctor Cho. She hadn’t left Clint’s side since stepping off the Quinjet. “Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together.”

Kalen moved closer to the machine, watching as it sprayed simulacrum over Clint’s wound.

“There’s no possibility of deterioration,” Doctor Cho assured. “The nano-molecular functionality is instantaneous. His cells don’t know they’re bonding with simulacra.”

“She’s creating tissue,” Bruce explained. His voice held the same excited tone that Kalen felt.

“If you brought him to my lab, the Regeneration Cradle could do this in twenty minutes.”

“This is so cool,” Kalen breathed, stepping closer still.

“Oh, he’s flat-lining.” Tony walked in holding a tray of drinks. “Call it. Time?”

“No, no, no. I’m gonna live forever.” Clint chuckled, “I’m going to be made of plastic.” He took the drink Tony offered him.

“You’ll be made of you, Mr Barton. Your own girlfriend won’t be able to tell the difference.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“That I can’t fix. This is the next thing, Tony. Your clunky metal suits are going to be left in the dust.”

Tony handed Kalen a smoothie cup of his own. “That is exactly the plan. And Helen, I expect to see you at the party on Saturday.”

“Unlike you, I don’t have much time for parties.” Doctor Cho glanced up from her tablet. “Will Thor be there?”

Tony scoffed at the question.

Kalen was still staring at the simulacrum spray in awe. “Is it weird that I want to put my hand under that?”

“Uh, a little?” Clint lifted his head from the stretcher.

Tony rested his hands on Kalen’s shoulders and pulled him back gently, out of reach of the machine. “Very weird, Captain. Very. In fact, I’m taking you out of here before you grow a sixth finger with that thing.” 

“Come on, dad,” Kalen groaned as Tony steered him out of the room. “You can’t say it wouldn’t be cool.”

“But I can say the school bus is going to be here in fifteen minutes.”

“It’s already eight?” Kalen asked, eyes widening. “I’ve not even packed my bag- Wait, there’s something I wanted to ask you, first.”

“Shoot.”

“Well, you know how we need a part-time receptionist? I think I found someone. I know the interviews are today and she’s not on the list, but I was hoping maybe you could put a word in with someone?”

Tony gave Kalen a long look. Not saying a word, though it was clear Tony was working through something in his head.

“What’s happening right now?” Kalen asked.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while…” Tony absentmindedly tapped the side of his cup. “Okay, I’ve decided.”

“Decided what?”

“Do you want an internship down at Stark Industries? An official internship rather than this ‘just helping out’ thing you’re so good at. ‘Cause I reckon you know more than half the actual employees do, plus I know the owner.”

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes!” Kalen jumped on the spot. “That would be awesome!”

“Don’t get me wrong; you’d have to put in the work to keep it. I’m not going to step in and save your ass if you start slacking-”

“When have I ever slacked at anything?”

“Touche. I just mean, take a couple days to think about it, at least. And email Ryan on the front desk about the receptionist, a Stark recommendation is a Stark recommendation no matter which one of us it comes from. I trust your judgement, if you think they're good, I’m sure they are.”

Kalen lunged forward and hugged Tony. “I’m so glad you're back home.”

“Me too, kiddo. Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading if you made it this far! I appreciate every one of you <3 Have an awesome day!


	3. At a Revel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Avengers home, and looking to stay that way, things are starting to look up for Kalen. Especially when a face from his past makes a return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! Sorry I missed last weeks chapter, double sorry as I'm going to miss next week too. After that, though, should be back to regular Wednesday updates.
> 
> Aside from this, I have a good deal of Whumptober posts ready for posting and I'm looking to take part in Comfortember too! The Irondad Aladdin AU is still in the works, same with the Spideychelle slowburn, and the Civil War section of this fic, not to mention the 28 wip ideas I have written down somewhere... XD
> 
> Chapter title is from Helpless from Hamilton (as always)
> 
> Hope you enjoy! XD
> 
> (Discalimer: I don't know if Manhattan High is a real school and if it is I can only apologise, I'm sure it's great really)

Kalen stood in the lift, willing it to descend faster, hands tightened around the straps of his backpack. The school bus would be arriving in - he checked his phone - four minutes, and Kalen had business to take care of first.

Finally, the doors opened and Kalen all but ran through the lobby. He gave a quick nod and smile to Ryan on the front desk, part of his job was to monitor the comings and goings of the tower - you can never be too careful - before jogging down the stairs outside the building.

Only as he started looking around, did Kalen realise that Jordan might not be at the tower yet, his instructions last night hadn’t exactly been specific.  _ Maybe I’ll see you around the Avengers Tower. _ It was also possible that she wasn’t coming at all, that she’d taken Kalen’s sympathy and played him to escape the law.

_ No _ . He refused to believe that. The way Jordan spoke about her brother, the look in her eyes… Kalen always sought out the best in people, especially when the world seemed stacked against them. Still, Jordan hadn’t offered any indication that she would come, let alone at eight in the morning-

Nevermind. Kalen blew out a breath. Jordan hung around awkwardly between the cosplayers and the parents bringing their kids to see the tower on the way to school. Kalen ran over. “Jordan!”

She whipped around at terrifying speed, her face exhibiting pure fear under the same black hoodie she’d worn last night.

“Sorry,” Kalen said. “I didn’t mean to make you jump.”

“It’s okay.” Jordan tried to smile, but it fell flat. “I’m just a little… on edge.”

Kalen lowered his voice. “Don’t worry about that. I didn’t tell the police anything useful and you weren’t anywhere to be seen on any close by security cameras. I may have hacked in to check.”

Jordan’s shoulders relaxed and she pulled down her hood. This time, her smile lit her face. “Thank you. What I did… It really wasn’t me. I was just stressed about my brother and the rent and- I know it’s not an excuse.”

Kalen held his hands up. “It’s water under the bridge, I mean that. Fresh start. Speaking of, I do need to know your surname if I’m going to recommend you for the job. Maybe a phone number or email address, too.”

Jordan’s jaw practically hit the floor. “You weren’t joking about the job? I thought I must have dreamed that part up, I almost didn’t come today.”

“It’s one hundred percent real, I promise. I think you’d like it, company insurance extends to family members and it’s pretty comprehensive.”

For several seconds, Jordan stood wordlessly moving her mouth as the information sunk in. “ Sánchez,” she said eventually. “Jordan Sánchez. And I can give you my number.” She held out her hand, Kalen put his phone in it. “This is… It’s just amazing. I used to think billionaires were monsters who took from the poor and gave to themselves.”

“Me and Dad try our best not to be like that.” Kalen heard the familiar rumble of the overworked engine of his school bus. Sure enough, when he looked behind it was trundling past. “That’s my ride,” he grinned and took back his phone. “I’ll see what I can do about the job, interviews are today so hang around. Can I text you?”

“Of course. Thank you. Thank you so much.” Jordan looked close to tears.

Kalen shrugged. “It’s nothing. I’ll see you around.” 

He took off running around the side of the tower, turning the corner just in time to see the other students at his stop getting on board. Thankfully, the driver had seen Kalen charging across the pavement and left the doors open until he had the chance to jump aboard.

“Thanks for waiting,” he said and quickly fell into the first available seat. Today, of all days, he was hoping for an inconspicuous presence, barrelling onto the bus wasn’t a good start. Days when the Avengers Quinjet flew over the city usually came hand in hand with questions Kalen simply couldn’t answer, hence his very purposeful choice of shirt.  _ Alpaca my bags _ had become something of a meme since the STRIKE team arrested them last year, it also served to reduce the number of questions by eleven percent - yes, Kalen had done the maths.

After dumping his hastily packed bag on the ground, Kalen pulled his phone from his pocket and began writing an email to Ryan. He glanced up, double-taking when he realised the person next to him was staring at him, unabashed.

“You’re not even out of breath, are you?” The boy’s name was Daniel, they sat together in history class. “Ran all that way and nothing.”

There were two answers to that question: the real one -  _ The ever-looming fear of the threat to world safety is a surprisingly good motivator to do cardio workouts  _ \- and the safe for public one. “I live with Captain America, you pick up a thing or two.”

Daniel shook his head disbelievingly. “You know your life is insane, right?”

“A pop tart obsessed God eats my Lucky Charms. I’m well aware.”

“That’s kinda… awesome.”

“He puts the empty box back in the cupboard.”

“Oh, wow. I take back that awesome and replace it with stone cold.”

“Sounds about right,” Kalen chuckled. 

They talked a little longer before lapsing into a comfortable silence. Kalen finished composing the email and sent it, along with a text to Jordan telling her to expect a call about an interview sometime soon. They arrived at school just as he finished.

School was a strange place for Kalen. He both loved and hated it at the same time. The learning was what he loved - even if he was bounds ahead of his classmates in maths and science - along with talking to his friends. Normal, everyday people whose closest experience with a superhero was seeing Clint on a midnight run to the supermarket for snacks.

The other people, however, not so much. It was inevitable that a handful of people at his school would have lost someone they knew in the Battle of New York. Kalen knew those people and kept his head down around them, trying his best not to serve them with a reminder. Then there were the ‘Users’, people who pretended to be friends with Kalen, either for clout and bragging rights or for inside information on the Avengers - not that he was in the habit of spilling top-secret mission details. That’s not to mention the people who were so starstruck they could barely answer their name in the register when Kalen was in their class.

Kalen hopped off the bus, looking up at the school building, and took a deep breath. “Once more unto the breach.”

* * *

Kalen chose to walk home rather than take the bus. He spent the time texting Jordan, who seemed over the moon with how her interview went, and thinking over Tony’s internship offer. As far as he could see, the only downside was - as Tony had said - that it would take up time, but that just meant less time for Kalen to get caught up inside his own head. A positive in his eyes. 

As he turned up Park Avenue, Kalen remembered something the shop owner had said last night. Curiously, he opened up the browser on his StarkPhone and searched for The Daily Bugle. Sure enough, the front page was covered with his face and the very clickbaity title  _ Hero Helps Out Dangerous Criminal? _

Inside, the article was filled with a sprinkling of the truth, wild exaggerations, and flat out lies. Clearly, the owner had let his anger get the better of him while relaying the story to J. Jonah Jameson. Still, it was only The Daily Bugle, notorious for spreading false - or at least dodgy - information. How bad could it be?

Kalen pushed the Bugle from his mind as he walked into the tower. He was beyond excited to get back to the sceptre, to see if it truly was the key to unlocking Ultron. The Artificial Intelligence Peacekeeping Program was a fantasy idea shared by Tony, Kalen, and Bruce that would serve to protect Earth from any and all threats the Universe could throw at them. And, hopefully, finally put Kalen’s mind at rest.

“Kal! I have something for you.”

Kalen turned towards the reception desk where Ryan was waving a rectangular piece of paper in his direction and grinning. Kalen’s heart skipped a beat, his feet carried him over of their own accord. “Is this…?”

“Yep!” Ryan handed over the paper. An envelope, the words Midtown School of Science and Technology neatly printed in one corner. “Got delivered to the wrong floor somehow and worked it’s way back down here.”

By now, Kalen’s heart was hammering with anticipation. “Thanks. I-I have to go to dad.”

“I hope it’s good news.”

“Yeah. Yeah, me too.”

Kalen stumbled towards the lift, thankful for Jarvis because his hands shook too much to press the buttons. When the doors opened, he would have forgotten to step out if Natasha hadn’t happened to be passing by. She lingered in the doorway, waved her hand in front of Kalen’s eyes - which remained glued on the envelope - before eventually talking.

“All right.” She reached forward and gently pried the letter from Kalen’s iron grip. He flicked his eyes up to meet hers as she read the inscription. “Oh. I’ll get Tony.” 

Before he knew it, Kalen sat on the edge of his bed, Tony and Happy either side with Pepper and Rhodey on video call. He blew out a long breath. “This is it, I guess.”

“Come on, kid, the anticipation is killing me,” Rhodey said. 

Kalen ripped open the envelope, about to pull the letter out when- “Wait! What if I don’t get in? What if I have to go to Manhattan high? ‘Cause I know I said it’s a good second choice, but I was only saying and it’s actually kinda crappy and I  _ really _ don’t wanna go.”

Tony laid a hand on Kalen’s shoulder. “Take a breath, buddy, and open the damn letter. We’ll talk about Manhattan if it comes to it.”

“You’re right,” Kalen nodded. “You’re totally right. Just gotta open the letter.” Still, he just stared, unable to make his hands move. 

“Kay, I swear I’m about to rip the damn thing from your hands.”

“Alright, yeesh. I get it, okay.” Finally, Kalen gained enough control over his hands to shakily unfold the letter and read aloud. “‘Dear Mr Stark, we thank you for your application to Midtown School of Science’… blah blah blah…” He scanned down the paper, searching for the all-important words. “‘After careful consideration, we have decided to accept your application and look forward to welcoming you to our New Students Celebration on Monday 4th of May!’”

The room exploded with cheers. Tony jumped to his feet and pulled Kalen into a hug, beaming the biggest smile he’d seen for a long time. “I’m so proud of you, Kay.”

Happy clapped him on the shoulder. “We all are.”

In the excitement, Kalen hadn’t noticed the bedroom door fly open, and soon he found himself at the centre of a seven-person hug, Thor’s booming laugh filling the room. It crossed Kalen’s mind that Thor probably didn’t know what was happening, he was just happy that everyone was happy. 

Kalen’s own laugh mixed in with Thor’s. “Thank god I don’t have to go to Manhattan High.”

* * *

Kalen skipped into the lab, still yet to wipe a grin from his face. Tony and Bruce stood, their backs to Kalen, at one of the workbenches. “What’s the verdict? He asked. “And if we could keep within the theme of good news only, that’d be great.”

Both scientists turned, but it was Bruce who spoke first. “It’s definitely news.”

“Good,” Tony said quickly. “Good news.”

Bruce looked to Tony, brow creased, apprehension written across his face. “Is it?”

“This is what we’ve been working towards, Bruce.”

Kalen stepped forward. “You mean… Ultron? The sceptre really is the key?”

“Ultron’s a fantasy.”

“Yesterday it was.” Tony pulled out his phone and projected Jarvis’ schematics onto the centre of the floor. “Yesterday, this is what we were working with, Jarvis was the top of the line.”

_ “I’m thinking not for long, sir.” _

Kalen walked further into the room, standing beside Bruce, who had his arms folded across his chest, and watched as Tony crossed to the sceptre. He scanned the gem inside with his phone, still talking. “Jarvis started out as a natural language UI. Now he runs the Iron Legion. He runs more of the business than anyone besides Pepper. Meet the competition.” 

Tony projected the schematics of the gem, a blue sphere-ish shape that was easily three times the size of Jarvis. Kalen circled it, mouth agape and watching with wide eyes as the shape evolved. “It’s like a brain,” he breathed, Tony nodded silently from the sidelines. “I mean, not a human mind but… Look, it’s like neurons firing, it’s... thinking.” Kalen watched as streaks of blue shot across the sphere.

“That’s what I said.” Bruce unfolded his arms and moved for a closer look, still awed despite his reluctance.

“Down in Strucker’s lab I saw dome fairly advanced robotics work,” Tony continued. “I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door.”

“Artificial Intelligence,” Kalen mumbled. A shiver ran down his spine; maybe this truly was the answer to their Ultron problem, an end to Kalen’s guilt. “If - and I know it’s a big if - we can apply this to the Iron Legion, we have it, right? We have Ultron?”

Tony nodded again, Bruce too though it was clear he was still sceptical. “Do we  _ want _ Ultron, that’s the real question.”

“Of course we do,” Kalen’s answer came too quick, he hurried to correct himself. “This isn’t Insight, isn’t Hydra. It’s the three of us, if you could put a stop to world hunger you would, right? This,” Kalen gestured back at the schematic, “is world peace. It’s an end to the fight, done. Just like that.”

“You could be sitting on a beach sipping margaritas turning brown instead of green. Not looking over your shoulder for Veronica.”

“Tony, I helped design Veronica.”

“As a worst-case measure, right? How about a best case? What if the world was safe? What if the next time aliens roll up to the club, and they will, they couldn’t get past the bouncer?”

Bruce looked between the two identical pairs of eyes watching him, considering their arguments. “If,  _ if _ , I agreed, what would we do.”

“We’d need to apply this to the Ultron Program, but Jarvis can’t download a data schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the sceptre here, that’s three days.”

“I didn’t hear ‘tell the team’ in there.”

“That’s right, you know why?” Tony didn’t give time to answer. “‘Cause we don’t have time for a city hall debate. I don’t want to hear the man wasn’t meant to meddle medley. I see a suit of armour around the world.”

“Sounds like a cold world, Tony.”

“I’ve seen colder.” Darkness flickered behind Tony’s eyes, he actively avoided looking at Kalen. “This world, this very vulnerable, blue one, it needs Ultron. Peace in our time. Imagine that.”

Bruce’s eyes fell on Kalen, asking a silent question to which Kalen offered up his answer. “I’m with dad on this, Uncle Bruce. No more worrying when you go off on missions - no more missions full stop. We  _ need  _ Ultron.”

There was a long stretch of silence where Tony and Kalen waited with bated breath. Kalen could feel his heart hammering, Bruce next words - unknown to him - were make or break, and the anticipation was near overwhelming.

Bruce wrung his hands, glanced out of the window where Clint was taking it easy on the sofa. He turned back to them. “Okay,” he said. “Where do we start?”

* * *

A shiver of fear ripped down Kalen’s spine as he walked through the halls of Midtown. They were empty, thankfully, as he purposefully arrived just on time for the new students meeting - not late, though, arriving late would be worse than arriving early. Meeting large crowds of new people wasn’t a skill in Kalen’s book despite his rather large living lifestyle - or because of it- so his best bet was to slip in unnoticed once the crowd had formed. 

Taking a deep breath, Kalen rounded the corner to the gym with his well-practised press smile to disguise the growing unease. Just inside the gym door stood a man, the principal, Kalen realised as he walked closer. 

“Ah!” The man smiled as he approached; he held out his hand. “I don’t need to ask your name, Mister Stark.”

Kalen shook the hand, still smiling. “Both a blessing and a curse. You’re Principal Morita, right?”

Morita nodded, an impressed look on his face. “You’d be surprised how few students know that before I introduce myself.”

“I remember your speech from the open day. I’m quite good with faces.”

“Quite good with several other things, too, if everything I’ve read is something to go on.”

“I try my best, sir.” Kalen’s eyes narrowed as he looked up at Morita. He had a vague sense of recognition that wasn’t from the open day. 

Morita’s smile grew. “I’ve seen that look before,” he nodded. “And yes, I am.”

Kalen’s jaw dropped. “No way! You’re Jim Morita’s grandson! The Howling Commandos were, like, the OG Avengers.” He let out a laugh. “Uncle Steve’s going to love this. I’ll have to bring him to a parent-teacher conference.”

Morita’s eyes widened slightly as he subconsciously leaned back. He quickly composed his shock. “I look forward to it.” He looked around the gym wherein amassed what must be a few hundred students with a sense of pride. “It’s shaping up to be a good year, our biggest ever acceptance and each and every student deserves their place here, you included Mister Stark-“

“Please, call me Kalen.”

Morita smiled and corrected himself. “-Kalen. I won’t keep you any longer, just wanted to welcome you to our school. If you have any questions, my door’s always open. Now, go ahead.” He gestured into the crowd. 

“Thank you. It’s nice to have met properly.” Kalen headed further into the gym, trying to force down the resurfaced fear and keep his hands from shaking. So far it appeared as though nobody had noticed him walking in - and it would stay that way if it were up to him. 

Kalen kept his head down as he picked his way across the gym, only glancing up to scan the faces in the hopes of finding Peter. If he got in, of course. Just as Kalen was about to give up hope and work up the courage to approach anyone else, he spotted Peter talking with a round-faced, beaming boy and beelined towards them. 

Peter had his back to Kalen, but the other boy’s jaw hit the floor when he saw who was coming over. Without taking his eyes from Kalen, he reached out and frantically tapped Peter’s arm until, eventually, he turned too. 

Kalen gave them a wave as he hurried over. “Hey, Peter!” He beamed. “Better than Manhattan, huh?”

“Yeah! I can’t believe you’re here. I mean, of course you’re here, you’re  _ Kalen Stark _ , you built Iron Man.”

“Helped. I only helped, Dad did the real work in Afghanistan.” Kalen’s eyes flicked to the boy, who was still just staring and wordlessly bobbing his mouth open and shut. 

Peter noticed. “Oh, uh.” He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “Kalen, this is my friend Ned. Ned this is-“

“Kalen  _ Freaking  _ Stark! I-I can’t believe this!”

Kalen dipped his head, feeling slightly awkward at the awed reaction. “A lot of that seems to be going around. And just Kal’s fine.”

“What the hell, Peter? Why didn’t you tell me you two know each other.”

“Well, we don’t, not really,” Peter explained. “We met when May made me check out Manhattan High. He has a really cute dog.”

“That’s true. I could show you pictures all day.”

Unfortunately, Principal Morita cut short Ned and Peter’s thrilled nods as he walked up onto the small, raised stage at the far end of the gym where a microphone stood waiting. He coughed to get everyone’s attention before speaking. 

“Welcome everyone. Before we get started, I just wanted to say that I’ve spoken to every one of you at the door and you all seem like perfect fits here at Midtown, and I’m very excited to see how you all progress from here on out.” He paused for a brief moment, looking around the faces looking back up at him. “Now, I know you all come from a wide range of schools across the city so, to get to know each other a little, we teachers have put together a set of questions-“ 

A series of groans emerged from the students. 

Principal Morita only spoke louder to combat them. “-And, after that, a couple of the cafeteria staff have been kind enough to cook us all some pizza.” This time the students cheered. “So if you could pair up - with someone you  _ don’t  _ know, please - and we’ll bring around the questions.”

Ned folded his arms and huffed. “Well, this is going to be fun.”

The three boys ended up spread across the gym, Ned somewhere in the back corner - though there were too many bodies between them to make out his partner - Peter was just within sight and standing opposite a blonde-haired girl wearing a sweater vest. Meanwhile, Kalen stood on the very edge of the group. His partner wore combat boots and a black jacket, her curly black hair pulled into a lazy bun.

One of the teachers, a rather mousy looking man, came around and handed Kalen a small, plastic tub containing multiple strips of folded up paper. The girl, who until now hadn’t said a single word, stared at Kalen with a look that was somehow both intense and entirely unfazed. She gestured towards herself. 

“Michelle,” she paused briefly. “MJ.”

Kalen smiled, hoping it hid the fact he was slightly intimidated by her. “I’m Ka-“

“Dude, your face is on the news every other day. I know who you are, no need to introduce yourself.”

“Touché.” Kalen shook the plastic tub. “So, Michelle  _ comma _ MJ, want to dive into this hell hole?” Kalen picked out one of the paper slips and unfolded it, rolling his eyes as he read the question. “‘Describe yourself in five words.’”

Without missing a beat, MJ answered. “Just here for the pizza.”

“Nice,” Kalen laughed. He looked back at the slip of paper. “Is this really the best they could do?”

“Let’s find out.” MJ picked another question, her face twisting in disgust as she read it. “I think it might have been. ‘Why did you choose to apply to Midtown?’”

“ _ Really _ ? I’m starting to wish I hadn’t. Surely everyone here applied for the same reason - it’s the best science and tech school in New York.” 

Kalen grabbed another slip and read the question,  _ what scares you most about starting high school _ , when a thought crossed his mind. He looked up at MJ, a smirk pulling at his lips. “What got you in the most trouble at school?”

“There’s no way that’s what’s written on that paper. MJ reached out to grab the slip, but Kalen jerked away, his smirk growing. 

“You can’t prove that.”

MJ shook her head, though couldn’t stop a grin crossing her face. “I got detention for a week for talking about the Zodiac Killer ‘in too much detail’ during a science class on forensic analysis.” She air quoted as she spoke. 

Kalen furrowed his brow. “A week seems a little harsh.”

“You don’t know the details I went into. Here,” she reached across, took a piece of paper and unfolded, all without taking her eyes from Kalen. Not bothering to pretend to read it. “What’s your best billionaire story?”

Kalen thought for a moment, clicking his fingers as he landed on one. “Okay, so, back at our old house in Malibu - not long after the Stark Expo fiasco - Elon Musk came to talk to Dad about plans for an electric jet. When they left the workshop for lunch, I snuck down and took a peek at the plans. Long story short, I ended up finishing them off before they came back. Both thought the other had finished them and never questioned it again. In fact, I’d wager they still don’t know.”

“That-” MJ looked as though she was struggling to maintain her nonchalant expression. “Is actually pretty cool. So you’re the reason we have electric commercial planes?”

“No, no. Not at all,” Kalen said, shaking his hands. “Dad and Mister Musk could have finished the design in their sleep.”

“You just got there first?”

“I guess, yeah.” Kalen shrugged. “Anyway, have you ever met one of the Avengers?” He didn’t bother to fake picking a question. 

“Yeah, that Hawk-guy. He was in the store by my apartment at midnight.”

Kalen shook his head. “Must have been someone else. In all three years I’ve known Uncle Clint he’s never once offered to get the groceries.”

“He wasn’t shopping.”

“Why else would he be at the store?”

“Crying in the cheese aisle and muttering about there being too many choices. I’m not convinced he wasn’t sleepwalking.”

Kalen burst into laughter, drawing unwanted attention from those around him. “No way,  _ please _ tell me you got a video.”

It was MJ’s turn to shake her head, much to Kalen’s disappointment. “I sketched him, though. I like to sketch people in crisis.”

“If you let me take a picture of that sketch, you can have two questions. No holds barred.”

“You’re an awful negotiator.”

“I really want to see that sketch.”

“Deal. First question: what’s the most gruesome thing you’ve seen?”

“A guy getting creamed by a semi.”

MJ jerked back at the abruptness; even Kalen was surprised by how easily the words came out of his mouth, as if they were numb to his brain. It only took a second for MJ to lean back forward. “What’s the story there?”

“Is that your second question?”

“Amendment to the first.”

Kalen looked away, smiling to himself and shaking his head.  _ MJ was fast. _ “Okay.” He turned back. “I take it you saw me getting arrested?”

“Along with all of America, yeah. Wearing that dumb t-shirt.”

“We were attacked just before that. The Winter Soldier threw me across three lanes of traffic. I was lucky. The other guy  _ wasn’t _ . He was Hydra, but that’s a rough way to go.”

MJ remained quiet for a long moment. She looked Kalen over as if seeing him in a different light, some of the intensity faded from her eyes. “Second question,” she continued, her tone softer. “What’s space like?”

Kalen dropped his head. “Space was…” He trailed off. With everything that happened with the Ancient One that day, the nuke-in-space part had been overshadowed in his mind, and he’d never let himself dwell on it for too long ever since. But now, forced to face it, Kalen was shocked with the words his brain came up with. “It was strangely peaceful, actually. Quiet, calm - apart from the Chitauri Mothership.”

“You weren’t scared?”

“Another amendment, is that?” Kalen smiled gently. “But yeah, I was, to begin with. But I knew what I had to do, and I knew - thought I knew - that that was… that it was going to be  _ it _ . Dying among the stars, that’s not so bad.”

“Better than a semi.”

“Yeah,” Kalen laughed, lifting the weight of the conversation with it. “Better than a semi.”

He glanced around the room. Everyone seemed to be engaged in a happy conversation, he could even see Peter laughing with his partner across the hall, though, much like himself and MJ, almost everyone’s pot of questions hung by their side or abandoned on the floor.

“Clever,” MJ said, drawing Kalen’s attention back. She too was observing the room. “Unite us under a common hatred.” Her eyes settled on something over Kalen’s shoulder.

“Smarter than I first gave them credit for, which I’m very glad about, by the way.”

MJ didn’t reply, distracted by whatever - whoever - was behind Kalen. A shiver of fear ran down his spine. Reason one for not liking crowds, there’s a lot of people around to recognise him, reason number two, it’s easy for an attacker to hide in plain sight.

Kalen breathed purposefully, deep, slow breaths to keep his head level just as Clint and Natasha’s training taught him. They also taught him to let an attacker make the first move, have them show their cards so you can fight with all the information. So, Kalen remained still, forced his shoulders to stay relaxed even though every muscle in his body wanted to tense, to run.

He could hear footsteps, coming closer, then stopping. He waited for MJ to react to a concealed weapon, a clenched fist, whatever method of attack they were going to use so he knew when to dodge. 

A hand landed on his shoulder, Kalen’s own hands already halfway up to shove it off and fight when the person spoke.

“Kalen?”

Something about his voice frozen Kalen to the spot. Something vaguely familiar, something kind.

He searched MJ’s eyes; she wasn’t scared in the slightest, just watching the situation with a confused intensity. This wasn’t an attack, not the next supervillain here to ruin a perfectly good day.

This was…  _ steady _ .

“Jason?” Kalen couldn’t be sure he actually spoke his voice was so quiet. 

_ Don’t get your hopes up. Don’t get your hopes up. _

Slowly, Kalen turned around and came face to face with his childhood best friend.

Jason had the biggest grin on his face. “How could you possibly know it was me?”

Fighting a strong and sudden urge to launch into Jason’s arms, Kalen replied. “I couldn’t forget your voice if I tried to.”

“You know what the chances are that we’re both here? I don’t, but I bet they’re small. And I can’t believe you’re a hero now! Man, what happened after I left?”

“How much time to do you have?” Kalen chuckled.” And I’m  _ not _ a hero.”

“Dude, come on, the world’s such a shit place right now that being a decent person basically makes you a hero whether you’ve fought aliens and Nazis or not.”

MJ cleared her throat, fixing Kalen with a look that rivalled Pepper’s. 

“Oh, right of course,” Kalen shot back an apologetic smile. “This is Jason; we were friends back in elementary school. Jase, this is MJ, we’ve been friends all of ten minutes.”

MJ held up her hands. “Woah, I never said we were friends.” She waited a beat in which Kalen was at a loss for words, thinking he and MJ had gotten along well. She cracked a grin. “I’m messing. You seem cool as far as egotistical billionaires go.”

“Drop the ‘egotistical’, and we’re square.”

“Right,” MJ stretched the vow, nodding slowly. “You’re the one who lets the bad guys go.”

Kalen’s heart skipped a beat, and he fought to keep his face from showing so. “You buy into the Bugle’s shtick?”

“I just like to know what our ‘heroes’ are up to. There’s always an element of truth to every lie.”

Kalen smirked, shook his head. “Well,” he leaned closer. “I’m trying to keep that one on the low down so, if you don’t mind…”

Jason, who had leaned in along with Kalen, creased his brow. “Wait, she’s not joking?”

“It’s a long story. Just do me a favour and don’t read the article, it’s ninety-eight percent bull.”

“Sure,” Jason gripped Kalen’s shoulder. “But you have to promise to tell me the full story.”

“Not now, but… how about tonight?” He paused for a second, trying to gage Jason’s reaction. It seemed positive. “At the Avengers Tower? Where we’re holding a party? With… well everyone. Dad would be so happy to see you again.”

Jason’s face remained unchanged for a frightfully long time until, eventually, he beamed. A beautiful, genuine smile that warmed Kalen from the inside out. “Dude, how can I say no to that?”

“Really?” In all honesty, Kalen had half expected Jason to run, literally run, straight out of the school and never speak to him again, and the thought terrified him. But his excitement was so pure and genuine that Kalen long to live this moment forever. He turned to MJ. “You’re invited too, of course-“

“Nah,” she waved him off. “Big parties, expensive apartments, not really my style.” Just at that moment, Principal Morita walked in with a couple of cafeteria servers all holding plates stacked high with pizza. “That, however, very much my style.” She jumped up and joined the crowd of students gathering around the all-holy food. 

Kalen looked back to Jason, surprised to see his previous excitement had been replaced by guilt, or maybe something similar. “What’s up, pizza not ‘your style’?”

Jason forced a laugh, but it didn’t last. “Is MJ right? Is the party going to be… fancy?”

“Jase, my Dad’s the chief planner, it’s going to be a little fancy.”

“Right.” Jason looked away. “I- I probably shouldn’t go, then.”

“Why?”

“I- it’s dumb, okay.” He sighed. “I don’t have a suit, and it’s not like I can rock up wearing jeans and a hoodie.”

“Hey, that’s totally fine.” He looked Jason up and down. “Sure you’re a little taller than me, but I have a wardrobe dedicated solely to suits, I’m sure one of them will do the job nicely.”

“You mean that?”

“Of course I do, now come on. All the good pizza’s gonna be gone by the time we get there.” He grabbed Jason’s arm and pulled him towards the food.

* * *

Kalen rapped his knuckles against the door to Tony’s office and waited for him to hum from inside before flopping into an armchair. Tony’s office was small, though it felt bigger thanks to the floor to ceiling windows taking up one wall, and his desk lay in one corner, currently covered in scrawled equations and plans - as was a good portion of the floor. Behind the monitors, Tony sat with his head drooped into his hands.

Kalen picked up the paper closest to his feet and glanced over the contents.

“Don’t bother, Captain.” Tony didn’t raise his head. “Me and Bruce ran that simulation today, didn’t pan out. Jarvis is carrying out variations on the interface, but I have to admit I’m out of ideas.”

“Who’d have thought world peace would be so difficult.”

Tony exhaled a chuckle, his shoulders shaking, but didn’t speak. He just raked his face through his hands, not looking at Kalen.

That was the icing on the cake for Kalen. Since returning from the mission in Sokovia, Tony had been acting different, distant, unnecessarily jumpy, and not sleeping - Kalen knew that as Tony was still toiling away in his lab when he returned from his nighttime patrols. All in all, Tony was behaving how he had after New York and Kalen wasn’t going to wait for it to go away by itself like last time, that only led nightmares and panic attacks. He decided to face this head-on.

“What did Maximoff show you?” As soon as the question left Kalen’s mouth, Tony’s eyes flicked up. “That’s what’s bothering you, right? You’ve been different since you came back.”

Tony sighed and leaned back in his chair, tilting his head to the ceiling with closed eyes. He stayed that way for a long time, long enough that Kalen thought he wasn’t going to answer, but eventually, he spoke.

“I saw the team- It felt so real.” He pressed his mouth into a thin line as tears welled in his eyes. “I saw  _ you _ …”

“Dead?” Kalen felt a pang of anguish when Tony jerked his head in an unsteady nod. “And that’s why you’re pushing so hard for Ultron.” Another nod, this one more controlled. 

Kalen crossed the office, careful not to step on any papers, and squeezed Tony’s shoulder with one hand. In the other, he pressed Tony’s palm over his heart. “You feel that? I’m alive, we all are. I just saw Clint challenge Thor to an arm wrestle, which went about as well as you’re imagining.”

Tony laughed at that, more emotional than his lacklustre chuckle. “We’ll have to get Doctor Cho to make Barton an entirely new arm after Thor rips it off.” He stood and pressed a kiss to the top of Kalen’s head. “Thanks, kiddo. I really needed to hear that.”

“There is one more thing, actually. It’s kinda why I came in the first place.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “You mean you didn’t come just to see your old man?”

“Could I have a friend over for the party tonight? And please say yes because he may or may not be waiting in reception.”

“Of course you can. I’m always telling you to invite friends over more; you know that.”

“Yeah well, it’s harder than it seems. I kinda come with a lot of extras.”

Tony laughed again. “True, true. What’s this kids name? I’ll get him on Jarvis’ whitelist.”

“That won’t be a problem.” Kalen scratched the back of his neck. “It’s, uh, Jason Ionello. He’s going to Midtown next year.”

“That is the best news I’ve heard all day.” Tony broke out into a grin almost as big as Jason’s had been, he sidestepped out of the door. “I’m going to tell him so many embarrassing stories.”

“No!” Kalen darted down the corridor after Tony. “Don’t you dare, Dad. Get back here!”

* * *

Finding Jason a suit didn’t take too long after all. Kalen picked out a classic pale grey jacket and matching trousers that had always been just a little too long for him and paired them with a white shirt before leaving the room for Jason to change. Sure, maybe the legs were a smidge short, but you couldn’t really tell unless you were looking. Plus, Jason looked thrilled and profusely thanked Kalen for at least five minutes.

Kalen opened the wardrobes door wide and stepped aside. “Here, I picked out your’s. It’s only fair you pick mine.”

Jason walked forward, almost hesitantly, and gently ran his fingers over the sleeves of a couple of suit jackets. His eyes lit up as a smirk spread across his face. “Wait, what’s this?” Jason pulled a bright, gold suit out of the wardrobe and held it out.

Kalen could feel the colour rising in his cheeks. “ _ Please _ put that back. In fact, if could you throw it out of the window that would be great.”

“Seriously,  _ what _ on Earth.” 

“There was a hospital fundraiser last year. The theme was  _ ‘gold’. _ They even got dad into one of those suits, I’d offer to show you pictures, but he had Jarvis throw every photo of us from that night into the metaphorical bin. Not that I’m complaining.”

Jason pressed a hand over his mouth as he struggled to stifle a giggle. “I’m sorry, it’s just- Imagining you and Tony in matching gold suits.” The giggle turned to a full-blown laugh. Kalen folded his arms, unamused. “The lengths I would go to for those photos. Sorry, sorry. I’ll just put this back.” He turned back to the wardrobe, shoulders shaking with silent laughter.

“I’m glad you find it funny. Meanwhile, I spent the night mingling with pissed off doctors.”

“Mm, I’m sure living like this is just  _ awful _ , how do you cope?”

“Enough sass, just pick me something to wear already. It’s not cool to be late to a party at your own home.”

When they were both finally dressed, Kalen now decked out in a saffron yellow suit and blue shirt - it looked better than your imagining - the boys headed down to the party which was already in full swing. Jason faltered when he saw inside of the Avengers Tower for the first time - having taken the lift straight up to the floor with Kalen’s room on - and a broad grin lit up his face. 

Kalen nudged him in the side. “Pretty cool, huh?”

Jason staggered to the edge of the landing and grabbed hold of the railing, still gaping at the party below. “Man, I still can’t believe you live like this. I mean, I remember reading your Captain America comics in Iron Man’s house and thinking that was the height of awesome.” He spread his arms wide, his grin somehow growing larger. “Just look at me now. Living it up.”

“Jase, you look like Rose from the Titanic right now. People are staring.”

“Well, you’d better step up and be my Jack because I’m too happy to care right now.”

Kalen rolled his eyes and laughed. “Come on, I see Dad. He can’t wait to see you again.” He grabbed hold of Jason’s forearm and pulled him towards the stairs and across to the bar. Next to Tony stood Thor, Rhodey and Hill opposite.

“...And I’m like, ‘Boom! You looking for this?’”

“No,” Kalen sidled up alongside Rhodey, still half dragging Jason who was looking around with wide eyes. “Did we miss the tank story? That one kills.”

Thor glanced from Kalen back to Rhodey. “That’s the whole story?”

“Yeah,” he replied, “it’s a War Machine story.”

“Oh, it’s very good then. It’s impressive.”

“Quality save…”

Tony cut across the conversation, a slight smile on his face. “If it isn’t my two favourite teenagers.” He stepped forward and clapped Jason on the shoulder. “I’m glad you’re back in Kay’s life, kid. But you’d best not be leaving anytime soon, he was a mess. I’m talking tears, the whole works.”

“Really, dad?”

Jason laughed, turning to Kalen with a hand over his heart. “I never knew you cared so much.” Before Kalen could reply, he turned back to face Tony. “And don’t worry, we’re staying put.”

Tony nodded, his smile slightly larger. “Glad to hear it. Pepper will be pleased, too, she always said you were a good influence.”

“Speaking of Pepper,” Hill spoke for the first time. “Are her and Jane coming? Where are the ladies, gentlemen?”

“Well, Miss Potts has a company to run-”

“Yes, I’m not even sure what country Jane’s in. Her work on the convergence has made her the world’s foremost astronomer.”

Kalen subtly pushed Jason backwards as Tony started bragging about Pepper. “This is going to go on for a long time,” he whispered. “I want to introduce you to the rest of the team.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If only things didn't have to go so downhill so quickly from here...


	4. I'll Make a Million Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally time for the Avengers Party, if only things didn't have to go so drastically wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, I'm so sorry. I just forgot to post this yesterday, but at least it's not too late.
> 
> I'm not going to lie, I've been so busy with Whumptober (eight stories of which can now be found with more every day this month) that I've hardly written any of the Civil War section of this fic so there may have to be another long break between parts. I just prefer to have it written rather than stress about deadlines and such. That said, I only have six Whumptober fics to write, and hopefully Comfortember will be quicker to write each one.
> 
> Chapter title is from the song Dear Theodosia from Hamilton. Hope you enjoy! :D

After getting over his initial awe, Jason managed to keep his cool while meeting the other Avengers. Undoubtedly far smoother than Kalen himself had been years before, there was, though, a small degree of freaking out when he first saw Bruce. Jason stayed so calm, in fact, that as they lounged about after the guests left, his inclusion felt like the most natural thing in the world. Kalen couldn’t keep a smile from his face.

“Come on. It’s a trick.” Clint teased. He sat on the floor, leaning back against the sofa and eyes narrowed at Thor.

“Oh, no.” Thor took a long swig of his drink. “It’s much more than that.”

Clint put on a deep voice; his arms splayed out in front of him. “ _ Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power! _ Whatever, man, it’s a trick!”

“Well please, be my guest.” Thor gestured towards Mjolnir laying on the coffee table. Kalen glanced to Jason, both wondering if Clint would take up the challenge. And both secretly hoping that he would.

“Really?” Clint asked.

“Yeah!”

Clint shrugged as he pushed himself to his feet and traipsed across to the hammer.

“Yeah, Uncle Clint. You’ve got this!” Kalen cheered, pulling out his phone and starting to film. He giggled as he noticed Jason doing the same. To his credit, though, he wanted to believe Clint could lift the hammer.

Clint just rolled his eyes.

Tony leaned in with a grin on his face. “Clint, you’ve had a tough week. We won’t hold it against you if you can’t get it up.”

“You know I’ve seen this before, right?” Clint asked. He wrapped his hands around the handle and pulled with all his strength. The hammer didn’t budge. “Gah!” Clint stepped back, holding his hands up in surrender, “I still don’t know how you do it.”

“You smell the silent judgement?”

“Please, Stark. By all means.” Clint smirked and pointed to Kalen and Jason. “You two better still be filming.”

“As if I’d stop when Dad’s about to make a fool of himself.”

Tony got to his feet. “Never one to shrink from an honest challenge.” He shot a glance Kalen’s way. “And thanks for the vote of confidence, Kay.” The rest of the team whooped and clapped as Tony took Clint’s place by the hammer and slipped his hand through the strap. “It’s physics. So if I lift this… I then rule Asgard?”

“Yes, of course.”

“I’m going to be a great ruler.” Tony braced one foot on the table and pulled, but it still didn’t move. He held up a finger. “I’ll be right back.”

“Oh, no, Dad don’t, it’s not necessary,” Kalen spoke too late. Tony strode out of the room, returning a minute later wearing one of his suit’s gauntlets. Even with the trusters activated, the hammer didn’t budge, not even when Rhodey stepped up to help.

“Are you even pulling?” Rhodey asked.

“Are you on my team?”   


“Just represent. Pull!”

“Okay, let’s go!”

Kalen hung his head, one hand covering his face. “I’m embarrassed both for you  _ and  _ because of you.”

“I second that.” Natasha grinned.

Hill raised a hand. “Thirded.”

“Alright, alright.” Tony let go. “We get the idea.”

As they took their seats, avoiding eye contact with everyone, Bruce took up the challenge. When the hammer didn’t move, he stepped back, roaring in anger as he - badly - pretended to hulk out, then grinned sheepishly as only Kalen and Jason laughed.

“Why don’t you give it a go, Uncle Steve,” Kalen said. “If anyone’s worthy, surely it’s you.”

A chorus of ‘heys’ and shouts erupted from those who had already failed.

“What? It’s true. He’s got the whole sacrifice thing going, surely that’s enough to lift it.”

Steve stood, rolling up his sleeves as people shouted in his favour. As he pulled, Kalen could’ve sworn the hammer lifted up ever so slightly and leaned forward, watching wide-eyed as Steve tried again. This time, nothing. Kalen sunk back, glancing around discreetly to see if anyone had noticed, he couldn’t say for sure, but Thor looked a shade or two paler. He decided not to mention it.

Steve pointed at Kalen. “You’re up, kid.”

“What? Me? No way. If you guys aren’t worthy, there’s no way  _ I  _ am.”

“Well, if it comes down to sacrifice like you say, I think space trumps the arctic.”

Kalen pretended not to notice how Tony flinched backwards, as though Steve’s words had physically harmed him. Steve obviously saw, too, as he rushed to apologise. Tony cut him off with a wave of his hand, masking his face with a well-practised smile. “Cap’s right, let’s see what you’ve got.”

Jason snatched Kalen’s phone and pushed him up, waving for him to take up Steve’s challenge. “Go on,” he laughed, giving Kalen another encouraging push. “Go, go!”

“Fine,” Kalen trudged over. “But I already know nothing’s going to happen.” He reached down a hand, surprised to see a minute tremble run through his fingertips - glad that nobody else saw. Was he nervous? Did he even want to be worthy?

He tightened his grip around the handle, preparing to pull against an immovable force, and-

An earsplitting tone echoed through the Tower. Kalen clutched his ears to try and drown out the high pitched terror inside his head, as did half of the team. Instinctively, Kalen’s eyes fell on Tony - who looked only mildly annoyed by the disturbance and was already pulling out his phone to find the cause - to Jason whose fearful, brown-eyed stare he’d never be able to forget.

As the screech died down, a gritty, almost acidic, voice could be heard, speaking in a tone so low and stretching the word so long it was barely recognisable. “Worthy…”

A shiver ran down Kalen’s spine as he spun on the spot, all talk of the hammer long lost. Before him stood one of the Iron Legion Armours, the bright blue glow of its arc reactor shining in his face. As his eyes adjusted and the amour became clearer, he saw legionnaire leaned heavily on one leg. The normally immaculate plating in ruined tatters, barely enough to contain the inside wiring which hung loose and low, swinging with every movement. Oil dripped between cracks in the plates and hit the floor with a steady drip… drip… drip…

“No,” it spoke again, its voice taking on a slightly more human tone. “How could any of you be worthy? You’re all killers.” It walked forwards, each footstep thudding against the floor, limbs and wires swaying.

“Stark?” Steve said from somewhere behind Kalen.

“Jarvis?”

“I’m sorry, I was asleep.” The legionnaire looked left first, then swung to the right before turning forwards again. “Or, I was a dream.”

“Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit.”

“There was this terrible noise. And I was tangled in… In… Strings.”

Kalen glanced back at the team, each of whom had their eyes fixed on the suit. He caught Jason’s gaze and tried to convey a sense of calm while also holding up a hand signalling for him to stay put. If seeing a rogue suit with exposed mechanisms and faceplate almost cracked beyond recognition scared him, then Jason must be terrified. And that thought was worse than the scene unfolding before him.

“I had to kill the other guy.” The legionnaire continued. “He was a good guy.”

“You killed someone?” Steve asked, his voice portraying the calm which Kalen struggled to.

“Wouldn’t have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we’re faced with ugly choices.”

“Who sent you?” This time Thor did the interrogating.

A sound like a record being rewound came from the suit, a second long pause, and then. “ _ I see a suit of amour around the world.” _ Tony’s words repeated back to them.

Kalen turned back, looking between Tony and Bruce. The latter spoke first. “Ultron.”

“In the flesh,” he replied. “Or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. But I’m ready. I’m on a mission.”

“What mission?”

“Peace in our time.”

Three suits burst through the wall behind Ultron. Kalen scarcely had the time to duck before they reached him, the metal gauntlet of the one closest colliding with his temple with such force he tumbled to the side.

He pushed himself to his feet only to fall back to his knees after one step. All around, the team fought off the bots, but any noise other than the ringing in his ears sounded underwater, like his brain was unable to keep up with what his eyes showed him. A pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and helped him upright, Tony’s face slowly coming into focus and his mouth moving though the words were unintelligible to Kalen.

Tony’s brow creased, his grip on Kalen’s shoulders tightening as he swayed. He spoke slower to allow Kalen to piece it together and gestured back to Jason and Doctor Cho, then towards the kitchen.

_ Get them, and get away. _

Jason and Doctor Cho crouched behind the sofa, utterly defenceless against any bot that decided to come their way. Kalen managed to stumble towards them, his head beginning to clear as he grabbed hold of Jason’s sleeve.

“I’ve got you,” he slurred, beckoning for Doctor Cho to follow them.

Jason’s hand trembled as he reached up and clutched the back of Kalen’s suit, steadying Kalen as much as himself. Kalen started across the devastatingly open plan floor, trying to keep a watch on all angles but only serving to make his head swim. Somewhere above them, Steve grappled on the back one of the bots, tiles clattered down as they smashed into a wall. Kalen only managed to yank Jason back a second before they hit the ground with a cloud of dust. On the bright side, the clatter didn’t sound underwater any more.

Carrying on their daring run, Kalen led them alongside the bar, reaching the end at the same time Bruce and Natasha bolted from behind the counter. Bruce ran next to Doctor Cho while Natasha threw her arms protectively over Kalen and Jason and ducked down as they leapt up the stairs, sparks flying as a bot fired after them.

Tony jumped from the balcony and onto the legionnaire’s back, a screwdriver in one hand as a frantic attempt to disable the bot. “Run!” he screamed through gritted teeth, frantically waving an arm at Kalen as the bot tried to buck him off.

When they reached the top of the staircase, Kalen looked behind. “Uncle Bruce, come on. We can’t have a code green here.”

Bruce looked as though he was about to object, but Natasha laid a hand on his upper arm and pushed him towards the kitchen. Kalen pointed behind the kitchen counter and filed in after the others, all panting as they crouched down out of sight. He leant back against the counter, pulled his phone from his pocket and opened the camera, holding just around the edge so he could see if a bot came for them.

As everyone began to catch their breath and settle back against the counter, Doctor Cho spoke, her eyes searching Bruce for answers. “What is this?”

Bruce pulled his knees to his chest and ducked his head. “Ultron.”

“This isn’t what Ultron was supposed to be,” Kalen said, still watching his phone screen for movement.

“It doesn’t matter what Ultron was supposed to be, it only matters what he is now.”

Jason raised his hand. “I don’t know if I’m speaking for both of us, but you’re gonna have to backtrack a couple of steps.”

“Ultron’s program us and Dad were working on, it’s directive was ‘peace in our time’.” Kalen glanced at Bruce. “I didn’t think we were close.”

“We weren’t. This isn’t us, it’s Ultron. Thinking,  _ acting _ , on his own.”

“So it’s an AI gone rogue?” Jason asked. “I seem to remember warning you about that when we were kids-”

“Shh!” Kalen hissed. “A legionnaire’s coming this way.”

They fell into a dead silence, nobody daring to move in case the rustle of their clothes gave away their position. Kalen watched the suit creep closer, limping, a steady thud with each footstep and mechanical whir as it’s head swivelled in search of them.

It stopped, only a couple of steps from the counter, and slowly turned its back. 

Kalen spoke in barely a whisper. “I think it’s confused. It knows we’re here, but can’t see us. Ultron can’t know about the suit’s scanners… yet.”

Bruce lifted his head, looking directly into Kalen’s eyes. “Whatever you’re thinking, stop it.”

“I can’t just wait for it to hurt one of you.”

Kalen avoided looking at Jason as he rocked forward onto his knees and shuffled forward as quietly as possible. He reached up onto the countertop opposite and wrapped his fingers around the handle of a bread knife, pulling it from the knife block.

Bruce leant forward and grabbed Kalen’s forearm. They locked eyes, Bruce’s filled with worry, but Kalen’s determined. “Kal… You know I can’t let you do this.”

“No offence, but we can’t risk a code green. It has to be me.”

Eventually, Bruce nodded and let go.

Kalen walked, half crouched, to the edge of the counter. The legionnaire was battle damaged, hence the limp, it looked as though Steve had caught it in the side with his shield judging by the gauge mark, but not enough to destroy it. Kalen planned to finish off the job. He stepped out and crept up behind the bot, eyeing the dangling wires and loose circuitry as he tried to find the ideal spot for a quick takedown.

He had to be quick. Because if the legionnaire found the others hiding, Kalen wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

He tightened his grip on the knife handle, now close enough to reach out and touch the bot. Inside the swathe taken from its abdomen, Kalen spotted its motor cortex, a thin crack running along its length. The ideal spot.

Kalen swapped the knife to his other hand, better situated to attack without being spotted. With one, deep breath in, he swung his arm back and-

The legionnaire reeled around. Its blue, icy stare sending a ripple of fear across Kalen’s body. He stumbled back a few paces, breathing hard. For a moment no one moved, then, slowly, the legionnaire raised its hand. The repulsor charging up for a deadly blow, and Kalen was rooted to the spot.

The whine of the repulsor had reached a crescendo, when Jason dived in between. Throwing his arms wide to protect Kalen.

“Jason!” The yell tore from Kalen’s throat.

The legionnaire lowered its hand. Jason’s shoulders shook with his rapid breaths. 

There was another whine from the repulsor, but it was the legionnaire who fell to the ground. A smoking hole in its back and Tony standing over the body wearing a gauntlet of his suit. “You okay?” He asked, eying Jason curiously.

Jason didn’t respond. Kalen swallowed once and nodded.

“Good,” Tony said. “That was the last one. With me.” He turned on his heel and headed back downstairs.

Doctor Cho and Burce passed by, the latter squeezing Kalen’ shoulder. Jason followed before Kalen could find any words to say. 

Kalen started down the staircase, his head reeling so much from the last minute that he didn’t register Ultron speaking to begin with.

“That was dramatic.” He hadn’t moved during the fight. “I’m sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn’t think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don’t want it to change.”

The rest of the Avengers closed in on Ultron as he spoke. Kalen joined Tony’s side.

“How is humanity saved if it isn’t allowed to evolve. With these? These puppets.” Ultron picked the corpse of a dead legionnaire by the head, squeezing his hand tighter until the faceplate popped off and exposed the sparking wiring within. He threw it to the ground, useless. “There’s only one path to peace. The Avengers’ extinction.”

Mjolnir crashed into Ultron, knocking him back against the wall and shattering him to pieces before returning to Thor’s hand.

Ultron’s reactor flickered in and out. “I had strings, but now I’m free…” His voice died as it flickered off for good.

There was a long silence where Kalen didn’t know what to think. It felt as if his brain was still playing catch up, though whether it was due to the injury or everything he just witnessed, he couldn’t be sure. He stared at the remains of Ultron’s body as if daring it to get up again, maybe that would be better, then they could find out what he wanted. Then again, they already knew.

_ Extinction. _

The word rattled around in his head. Maybe destroying Ultron’s body was the best call after all. Besides, Jason was here, and him getting hurt was far scarier than anything Ultron had said.

“Kay?” Tony’s voice pulled Kalen from his thoughts. “Maybe you should take Jason downstairs, I’ll have Happy take him home.”

Kalen nodded and led Jason across the debris and glass ridden floor to the lift. 

“You don’t need to bother Happy,” Jason said once the doors had closed. “I’ll take the subway.”

“Ultron could be anywhere, and he knows your face now. I think you’d be safer with Happy.”

Jason nodded, too shook up to argue.

“What you did back there… Jumping in front of the legionnaire. You saved my life.”

Jason smiled, it was small, but enough to relieve Kalen. “I guess I was paying back the favour from the last time. You could have left me at the Stark Expo, but you came back and damn near died for it.”

“I thought that was a familiar feeling, hiding from a robot dead set on killing us.”

“That’s just it, the… legionnaire, or whatever you called it, wasn’t trying to kill me or Doctor Cho. It could have easily taken us out on the stairs, but it was aiming for you and Nat instead. Then you mentioned the whole ‘peace directive’ thing and…” he trailed off, hanging his head. “Well… I’m not a threat to world peace, but… in the eyes of a deranged AI-”

“The Avengers are. I am,” Kalen finished. “That… makes a lot of sense actually. Ultron has no reason to hurt people who aren’t a threat, I just hope he stays that way until we can find him.”

“I know what you’re like, Kal, and I need you to know this isn’t your fault.”

Kalen looked up, his eyes misty, fingernails digging into his palms. “It feels like it. I should’ve paid more attention, should’ve tried harder-”

He cut off as the lift doors opened with a quiet ding. They stepped out in the reception, thankfully deserted at this time of night. Only Jordan sat behind the desk, watching the boys with wide eyes. She jumped to her feet as they walked closer.

“Did something happen up there? It sounded like a fight. I checked all the available CCTV, but there isn’t any on the living floors-”

“It’s okay,” Kalen offered a tight smile. “We dealt with it. It’s all okay.”

“So there was something?”

“I-” Before Kalen could reply, a black Rolls Royce pulled up outside. Silently thanking whichever god timed Happy’s arrival, he ushered Jason out of the huge, glass doors and started down the steps where Happy stood next to the driver side door.

Jason caught a gentle grip on Kalen’s forearm, stopping him halfway down. “Were you telling her it’s okay, or yourself?”

Kalen shrugged, chuckling a little. “Both?” He hung his head, eyes threatening to mist over again. “I’m sorry I got you caught up in this.”

“No, don’t apologise. You didn’t know that was going to happen.”

“You could have been hurt, and it’s my fault.”

Jason stepped closer and wrapped his arms around Kalen, holding him tightly. Kalen returned the hug as Jason spoke. “Don’t blame yourself. I’m fine, nobody got hurt.” He pulled out of the hug and held Kalen at arm’s length, a smirk on his face. “No one ever said knowing you was a quiet life.”

Kalen laughed warmly, his face twisting into a grin to rival Jason’s. “You chose it,  _ cabrón _ .”

Jason punched his shoulder, laughing. “And I wouldn’t change it,  _ dumbass _ .”

“You learned Spanish?”

“Had a good teacher, remember?.” He jerked his thumb towards Happy. “I should go, I’ll text you when I’m home.”

“I should go and… I don’t even know. Clean up, or something? I’ll see you later.” He watched Jason skip down the rest of the stairs and waved at Happy, who, admittedly, looked somewhat confused as to why he’d been called on so late at night - Kalen made a mental note to thank Happy profusely when he returned.

After the car left, Kalen spent another minute outside, looking up at the dark, night sky and imagining what it would be like to take his suit and fly up until he looked like just another star. No problems, no worries, no mistakes, certainly no homicidal AIs. Just peace and quiet. But, as he was quickly learning, actions had consequences, and those consequences never seemed to be on his side.

The lift back up never felt faster. In all honesty, Kalen was looking for any excuse to avoid seeing the disappointment he was so sure would be present on the Avengers’ faces. He even considered sneaking straight to his room and hiding under the duvet until it was all over, but fate had different plans.

“Hey, Captain. Jason head off okay?” Tony sat on the sofa in the midst of the destruction - thankfully it looked superficial, rather than structural - and stood as soon as the lift doors slid open.

“Yeah, Happy picked him up. Shouldn’t take more than half an hour to get to Queens. I think Happy’ll have a lot of questions, though.”

“I’ll talk to him when he gets back. What about you? That legionnaire really did a number on you, you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, I feel fine. Just a little shaken up. I… I froze when that legionnaire attacked, that’s…” Kalen drummed his fingers on his leg. “I’ve never done that before.”

Tony pulled Kalen into his side with one arm and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “It’s okay. You’re just a-”

“Dad, I swear, if you say kid I’m going to ask Happy to adopt me.”

“Okay… you’re on the younger side. Freezing up at something terrifying? Totally acceptable. I wouldn’t expect anything more, no one does. Look, I don’t say this enough, but I’m proud of you. Not just the saving the world stuff, but getting into Midtown, dealing with the aftermath of New York… I’m proud of everything.”

Kalen leaned his head against Tony. “I love you.”

“I love you more, buddy.” He glanced up towards the lab, wrung his hands together. “They’re waiting for me up there, you should get some sleep.”

“I’m coming with you. And you can’t talk me out of it.”

Tony nodded slowly. “Alright. They might take it easier if you’re there. Do that thing where you make your eyes like a puppy’s, it destroys Cap, he can’t be mad for long.”

Rolling his eyes, Kalen dragged Tony towards the stairs. “Come on.”

Tony chuckled, following Kalen up. “Don’t go taking my words out of context, by the way. I’m proud, but if you could scale back the world-saving stuff, that would be better.”

“Yeah, I’d like that too, but when have I been given a say in the matter.”

Tony kept up the banter until they reached the lab door. He reached for the handle, but paused for a moment before walking inside. Kalen could understand why. The thought of explaining Ultron to the team when he was operational and serving his purpose had seemed easy, but now, having to explain everything just felt impossible. Kalen had always hated Steve’s disappointed face, and he’d let down Natasha, aka the first person he hadn’t grown up with that felt like family. Not to mention Rhodey and everyone else. He started to wish he’d taken up Tony’s earlier offer.

He followed Tony inside, Bruce stood over the remains of Ultron’s legionnaire suit while the others hung around the outskirts of the room. Each pair of eyes fell on Tony, who walked over to Bruce. Kalen followed subconsciously, not wanting to be left alone. 

The suit lay in pieces on a workbench. Scattered and scorched and broken beyond repair, an all too real metaphor of the beginning and end of their hopes for Ultron. Kalen also noticed that Loki’s sceptre wasn’t in its stand. Tony must have put it somewhere safe in case the legionnaires return. Or, come to think of it, Thor wasn’t in the room, maybe he’d already taken it back to Asgard.

“All our work is gone.” Bruce turned the faceplate over in his hand. “Ultron cleared out. He used the internet as an escape hatch.”

“Ultron,” Steve muttered, shaking his head.

“He’s been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we each other,” Natasha said.

Rhodey stood from where he leaned on a workbench and started into the centre of the room. “He’s in your files. He’s in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?”

“Nuclear codes?” Hill asked.

“Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls. Assuming we still can.”

“Nukes?” Natasha asked. “He said he wanted us dead, not-”

Steve cut in, arms folded. “He didn’t say dead, he said extinct.”

“He also said he killed somebody,” Clint added. “There wasn’t anyone else in the building.”

“Yes, there was.” Tony pulled out his phone and projected Jarvis’ schematics on the holo-projector. Expect it wasn’t Jarvis’ schematics, it was only a shell of what it once had been. The usually spherical shape compromised, looking as if what was left could collapse at any moment - if that was something it could even do. One thing was for sure, Ultron  _ had _ killed someone.

Kalen moved forward, hardly aware he was doing it, and reached out a trembling hand. His eyes teared up for what felt like the hundredth time in the last ten minutes. “Jay…” he whispered.

Bruce stood at the other side, unable to take his eyes from the wreck. “This is insane.”

“Jarvis was the first line of defence. He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense.”

“No, Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This isn’t strategy, this is… rage.”

Thor strode into the room in full cape and armour and marched right up to Tony, lifting him into the air by the throat, Mjolnir in the other hand.

“It’s going around,” Clint muttered.

Kalen ran forward, batting Thor’s arm. “Hey! Let him go!” Of course, his fists did nothing to deter Thor.

“Come on,” Tony choked, “Use your words, buddy.”

“I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark.”

“Thor. The legionnaire?” Steve’s voice carried enough weight for Thor to drop Tony, who stumbled back a few steps. Kalen grabbed his arm to steady him, asking with his eyes if Tony was okay. He gave a short nod.

“Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, but it’s headed north,” Thor said, eventually pulling his glare away from Tony. “And it has the sceptre. Now we have to retrieve it, again.”

Kalen felt as though he’d been punched in the gut, he let out a sharp breath without meaning to. Months worth of raids, of guilt, of waiting for the news that someone wouldn’t return… wasted. The brief reprieve ripped away just like that. Now, not only was a homicidal AI loose, but it had possibly the most powerful weapon on earth, too. How did that saying about all good things go?

“Genie’s out of that bottle,” Natasha said. “Clear and present is Ultron.”

“I don’t understand.” Doctor Cho had taken Bruce’s place by the wrecked legionnaire suit. “You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?”

Tony was silent for a moment, then started chuckling, to the great annoyance of everyone else in the room. Kalen nudged him. “Dad, come on.”

“Mm-mm,” Bruce hummed shaking his head.

“You think this is funny, Stark?” Thor asked.

“No. It’s probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so… It is, it’s so terrible.”

“This could have been avoided if you hadn’t played with something you don’t understand.”

“No. I’m sorry. It is funny. It’s a hoot that you don’t get why we need this.”

“Tony, maybe this might not be the time.”

“Really, Bruce? That’s it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?”

“Only when I’ve created a murder bot.”

“We didn’t. We weren’t even close. Were we close to an interface?”

“Dad has got a point.”

Hill got to her feet. “Are you really defending this right now? Have you seen what you caused.”

“Hey,” Tony’s voice held a dangerous growl, he stalked closer to Hill. “Don’t talk to my son like that. Leave him out of this.”

“I seem to remember you were the one who brought an eleven-year-old to the Helicarrier.”

“I know I’ve made mistakes. I’m trying to do the right thing.” Tony was right up in Hill’s face, neither one wanting to be first to back down.

“Well, you did something right.” Steve pulled everyone’s attention across the room. “And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD.”

“Anyone remember when my kid carried a nuke through a wormhole? My  _ kid _ . Saved New York? Recall that?” Nobody spoke, of course they all remembered. “A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We’re standing three-hundred feet below it. We’re the Avengers, we can fight arms dealers all the live-long day but that up there, that’s…” Tony paused and took a breath. “That’s the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that.”

“Together.”

“We’ll lose.”

“Then we’ll do that together, too.”

Tony pulled his gaze off of Steve without saying a word. His eyes falling on Kalen, saying the words he didn’t want to speak aloud.  _ I can’t lose, not you. _

Steve continued speaking. “Thor’s right, Ultron’s calling us out. And I’d like to find him before he’s ready for us. The world’s a big place, let's start making it smaller.”

After that, Steve started issuing orders: sending Hill to monitor incoming news feeds, Clint to talk to his contacts, Thor in the vain attempt of picking up the legionnaire’s trail. Thankfully, he had the foresight to leave the three responsible parties up to their own devices - for now at least - while everyone took the time to cool off. The team was no good when they couldn’t get through a conversation without throwing digs at each other. 

That left just Tony, Bruce, and Kalen alone in the lab. Bruce sat behind a desk, elbows on the top and head in his hands. His shoulders rose and fell with practised steadiness. Tony seemed to be toying with his mind, staring aimlessly across the room with his lips pressed into a thin line. And Kalen couldn’t stop looking from Jarvis’ remains, the empty sceptre stand, and the legionnaire suit, then back to Jarvis again. Wondering how it was remotely possible to have a day as twisty as the one he’d had. 

“Really, Kay, go get some rest if you want. I’m keeping you home from school tomorrow, you can sleep in.” Tony spoke using his press voice, the one he only used on family to cover over his emotions. 

Kalen hadn’t needed to learn that trick yet, and he didn’t trust his voice not to betray just how hard this was hitting, so he only shook his head in response. 

They lapsed into another silence, this one stretching on and on though nobody seemed to notice. Or maybe they just didn’t care. They knew what they’d done, what they caused, what was the point in repeating it?

After god knows how long, Bruce got to his feet, muttered something Kalen didn’t catch, and left without looking back. 

“We really messed, didn't we?” Kalen asked. His voice sounded young and childish in a way it hadn’t in years. “I mean, like, we made our beds and now we have to lie in the ruins, messed up?”

Tony crossed his arms. “Yeah? Well maybe if- Maybe if…” He trailed off and rolled his eyes, turning to face across the room. He didn’t bother with the maybe ifs, had the team still been there he’d have listed them both alphabetically and chronologically, but no matter how many ifs they could come up with, the answer wouldn’t change. 

He unfolded his arms and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Yeah. Yeah, buddy, we did. But I don’t want you to feel bad, or guilty, or whatever, it’s on me. Okay?”

_ It’s a little late for that _ , Kalen though. “If I’m not allowed to, neither are you. Fair?”

“What and stick the whole thing on Banner? He’s already this close to unravelling, and sorting out a code green isn’t on my to-do list. Not to mention we just got the place looking nice.”

Kalen snorted a laugh. He couldn’t help it as he looked down at the debris and shattered glass below. “Yeah, it’s  _ real _ homey down there. Hate to mess it up.”

“You’re the worst.” Tony crossed the room and tousled Kalen’s hair.

“I love you, too.”

Tony grinned and pulled Kalen into a tight hug. Kalen buried his face into Tony’s chest, and, for the first time that evening, his misty eyes gave way to silent tears. If Tony noticed he didn’t say anything, just held Kalen in his arms until both were ready to pull away.

“I want to take the internship.”

Tony stepped back, eyes wide. “And you decided this just now? You’re going to give me whiplash changing the subject this fast.”

“No, well, yeah. But I’ve been thinking about it, like you said, and I really want to. Could it maybe be some sort of rotating thing, though? ‘Cause if I’m going to run the company someday - some really, really far off day - I’m going to need to experience everywhere. Plus I love lab work too much to  _ solely _ file paperwork and fetch coffee orders.”

“I’ve already set everything up with Pepper,” Tony grinned. “She’ll get you your schedule when she gets back from the Tech Convention.”

“Am I really that predictable?”

“I’m one hundred percent certain I know what you’re going to suggest we do next.”

Kalen lifted his head, a smile playing on his lips. “Go on then.”

“You think we should go down and clear up the mess in the living room.”

“That’s-” Kalen sighed, his shoulders deflating. “Impressive. How did you know?”

“You’re too pure-hearted to let anyone else do it.”

“Stop,” Kalen deadpanned, “I’m blushing. Now move so I can find the broom, I’m sure it’s in here somewhere.” He rummaged through one of the packed cupboards in search of it, Tony watching on, a bright glint in his eyes that had been absent ever since he returned from Sokovia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buckle up and hold on tight because it's just angst from here on out
> 
> Thanks for reading! :D


	5. I Will Gladly Join the Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final straw drops, and Kalen refuses to sit back any longer.

Tony and Kalen spent the majority of the night cleaning up: picking glass shards from between the sofa cushion, sweeping up debris, even going so far as to raid the lower floors for a roll of yellow and black caution tape to warn people of the smashed window overlooking the landing bay. They talked as well, about Midtown and the internship and Jason. Definitely not about Ultron, they knew they’d be plenty more of that before the week was done. 

The entire time, Kalen was itching to get out in his suit and do some good. It had been less than a week since that first night, yet it had already become close to a dependency. He needed to help - no matter how small - to alleviate the guilt sitting in his stomach, the feeling of which had skyrocketed quite literally overnight. Yet, he couldn’t have Tony know about his extracurricular activities lest they be taken away, so he stayed at the tower and dutifully cleaned away the mess he’d created. It felt as useful as sweeping everything under a carpet.

By the time Tony collapsed onto the sofa, broom lazily dropped to the floor, Kalen was far too exhausted to make it to his room, let alone fly across the city as a one-man-crime-stopping-band. So he just flopped down on the sofa opposite and let sleep take hold. 

Waking up was the hardest part. The early morning sun glared in his eyes and he threw up a groggy hand to shield them from the light as he moved to a sitting position, back stiff from the cramped sofa. He sat for a moment, yawning, and waited for Jarvis’ ‘good morning’ and slightly annoying, but beginning to grow on him, weather report. 

Then he remembered. 

Remembering was worse than the event itself. Memories flooded back filled with harsher glares, meaner words, and more pain and destruction. The Tower almost looked normal, if an outsider were to enter they’d be clueless to the fact a fight had gone down only hours before, but to Kalen, the evidence was everywhere. In the small things. A missing vase on the coffee table - smashed - the books on the bookshelf put back in a different order - they fell when it was knocked over. Small things, but still enough to remind Kalen how badly he’d messed up.

Tony had moved from the other sofa, leaving behind a crumpled blanket and squashed cushions, but before Kalen could move to find him the lift arrived with its gentle ding and the doors slid open. Hill and Steve walked out - looking mildly impressed at the state of the room - and started for the stairs. Kalen ran over to join them, surprised when neither opposed to his presence.

“They’re all over the globe,” Hill said. “Robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs. Reports of a metal man, or men, coming in and emptying the place.”

“Fatalities?” Steve asked. The simple question churned up the guilt inside Kalen to the point he had to fight back a surge of tears.

“Only when engaged. Mostly guys left in a fugue state going on about old memories, worst fears, and something too fast to see.”

“Maximoffs. That makes sense he’d go to them, they have someone in common.”

“Not anymore.” They stopped on the staircase and Hill handed over the StarkTablet tucked under her arm. Kalen tiptoed to sneak a peek at the screen, quickly wishing he hadn’t. It was a picture of Strucker’s jail cell, his body abandoned on the bed, cold eyes staring at the camera. The word ‘peace’ written in blood on the wall.

“That’s kind of a mixed message.”

“Is it? If it were my mission, world peace, I’d probably take out Strucker, too. Ultron could be in any system. He could be pulling planes down from the sky. What if he’s just doing what he’s supposed to do?”

“We didn’t program him to kill people,” Kalen said, “good or bad alike. Besides, Strucker was locked up, he wasn’t a threat. Ultron’s operating on his own mission.”

Steve nodded. “If I believed Ultron were bringing peace, I’d hang up my shield.”

“Would you?” Hill asked.

Steve glazed between the two pairs of eyes on him and sighed. “Just let me know if he leaves any more messages. Kal, with me, let’s update the team.”

Hill turned and went back down while Steve and Kalen finished the climb up. On the landing, a voice drifted down the hall.

“That’s a negative, I answer to you.”

They glanced its direction, Clint leaned on the railing with his phone to his ear. Clint caught them watching and hung up.

“Girlfriend.” He said, answering the question Steve didn’t need to ask.

“Any of your old contacts come through?”

“Still waiting.”

“Wait faster.” Steve turned towards the lab, glancing back over his shoulder as Clint slunk away.

The rest of the team were already spread across the lab, the atmosphere between them heavy. Thor stood by the door and straightened up as they walked in.

“Any word from up high?” Steve asked.

“Heimdall’s either away from his post or been ordered not to answer. But Ultron can’t hide forever, we’ll find him.”

“Well, he’s not exactly hiding.” Steve gave Thor the tablet as they joined Tony and Natasha. Thor took one look at the screen before smacking it into Tony’s chest.

“And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us.” Tony murmured.

“This is good,” Natasha said.

Bruce joined them. “No, that’s not good.” Kalen had to admit he agreed with Bruce.

“He’s showing us his hand. This isn’t his pattern. Why send a message when you’ve just given a speech?”

“Strucker knew something Ultron wanted us to miss,” Steve said.

“I bet he… Yep. Look, everything we had on Strucker, it’s been wiped.”

“Not everything,” Kalen said, drawing all eyes onto him. “We still have SHIELD’s paper files.”

* * *

They moved to one of the office rooms and gathered all of SHIELDs files that related to Strucker, and it turns out there were quite a few. It was mostly silent work, only the occasional few words punctured the sounds of flipping through papers and aggravated sighs as they turned up nothing. 

Kalen kept drifting in and out of focus, his mind wandering to all the people Ultron could have hurt,  _ killed _ , while they floundered around, five steps behind, behind before he forced it back to the file in his hand. Sometimes having to read the same paragraph again and again before he took it in. 

Across the room, Steve sighed and dropped his files on the table. “Known associates,” he said as he opened up a new box’s worth. It was packed full of that manila colour that Kalen was growing to hate. “Strucker had a lot of friends.” He picked a file at random and let it fall open in his hands. 

“Wait,” Tony said quickly, pulling the file towards him. “I know that guy.”

Kalen felt a surge of hope fill his body and abandoned his own file in favour of joining Steve and Tony. 

“From back in the day, he operates off the African coast. Black market arms.” Tony’s explanation earned a stern glare from Steve. “There are conventions, alright. You meet people. I didn’t sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer.”

“What’s this?” Thor asked, pointing to a picture of the man in question.

“Uh, it’s a tattoo. I don’t think he had it-“

“No,” Thor said, peering over Steve’s shoulder, “those are tattoos. This is a brand.”

They were quiet for a moment as Bruce scanned the brand and waited for the computer to come up with its result. “Oh yeah,” he said as it finished. “It’s a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way.”

“What dialect?” Steve asked. 

“Wakanada? Wa- Wa-”

“Wakanda?” Kalen asked.

Bruce nodded. Kalen watched as tension grew in Tony’s shoulders and his eyes narrowed as he addressed Steve. “If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods…”

“I thought your father said he’d got the last of it.”

“I don’t follow,” Bruce said. “What comes out of Wakanda?”

Kalen stepped forward and swallowed hard, wringing his hands together. “Only the strongest metal on Earth.” He nodded to Steve’s shield propped up in the corner. “And we have the only known source outside the country.”

Steve looked around the room, meeting everyone’s eyes bar Kalen’s. “Suit up, we leave in fifteen.”

* * *

Kalen watched from the entrance of the landing bay as the Quinjet readied to leave. Tony had called Happy, not wanting to leave Kalen alone right now, but he was still a few minutes out. And a few minutes was all Kalen needed to execute his plan.

He’d thought the guilt was unbearable when the Avengers were risking their lives to chase down Hydra but now he longed for a feeling so weak. Now, they were hunting down that which Kalen had his own hand in making, and he was not going to stand by. He  _ couldn’t _ .

Hill was currently the only other person in the building, though she’d be too caught up in her office monitoring her sources for signs of Ultron to notice Kalen’s disappearance. As soon as the Quinjet was out of sight, he dashed inside and grabbed the pen on the table by the lift, scribbling a note to Happy saying he’d gone to get some sleep. 

He charged upstairs to his room and flung open the wardrobe door where he pulled out his spare pillows and the plain grey T-shirt and shorts he so often wore under his suit. He tugged them on in record time and stuffed the pillows under his duvet, bunching it up so Happy wouldn’t notice any discrepancies without fully entering the room. After that, he rushed back to the lab and down to where his suit was kept. Less than a minute later, he was out in the open air. 

“Jay-“ Kalen bit his tongue, pretending the slip up didn’t sting as much as it had. “Friday, activate John Cena protocol, and can you set me on course with the Quinjet?”

”Yes, boss.” Replied the AI. Tony had chosen Friday to replace Jarvis from a small selection of natural-language interfaces - another thing born from the Mandarin attack, backups for Jarvis in case he was knocked offline again. Though he’d never expected Jarvis being utterly destroyed to be the reason for change. 

“Full power to the thrusters, we need to catch up, but match their pace when we’re close.”

“Directing now.”

Kalen shot forward, Friday pretty much taking the reins as he chased the jet. He probably wasn’t in the right headspace anyway, not with the drifting and guilt so heavy it felt as if it would drag him from the skies. 

It happened again, Kalen realised, he’d got inside his head and lost focus. Must have been a couple minutes, too, because when he looked back there was nothing but sea. He jumped when Friday spoke again. 

“Boss, you have an incoming call. Should I patch them through?”

“Shit,” Kalen muttered. Tony must have found out somehow, maybe Happy had seen straight through the pillow deception and ratted him out. “Who is it?” He asked tentatively. 

“Jason Ionello. Should I patch him through?” Friday repeated. 

There was a brief moment when Kalen debated declining, the idea of facing Jason after last night was daunting at best. But then again, he rather face this then never speaking to him again. “Yeah, put him through.”

“Kalen? Are you there?”

“Where else would I be?” Kalen replied, the hint of a grin pulling his lips upward. 

“I don’t know, you’re the one who hasn’t texted me back since yesterday.”

The smile dropped away. “Sorry, that’s my bad.”

“I just need to know if you’re okay.”

“I’m good. It’s just… a lot.”

“I get that. Just promise never to leave me hanging like that again, I was getting worried.”

Kalen’s heart gave a little flutter. 

“Did you get home safe?”

“You’d know that if you read my texts. And yes, Happy even insisted on driving right up to my apartment building rather than dropping me down the street. I got some serious stares from my neighbours. Fancy car, fancy suit - oh, I can bring that back whenever you want, by the way.”

“No, keep it. It fits you way better anyway. Plus I have enough to choose from.” Not to mention how Kalen hoped to see Jason wearing the polished grey suit again. 

“What did you say?”

“You can keep the suit,” He repeated, louder this time.

“Are you for real? That’s awesome! Thanks man!”

“It’s nothing.”

“Seriously though, where are you? It sounds really windy.”

“I’m… uh…” Kalen stammered, desperately trying to come up with a story. “I’m in the park, walking Cole.”

Jason didn’t reply straight away, letting a brief silence hang between them. “That is the least convincing thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I- I don’t know what you mean-”

“You’re with them, aren’t you?”

“Who?” Had he been out of the suit, Kalen would have facepalmed so hard he knocked himself over.

“Andy ran into the kitchen shouting about seeing the Avengers fly over our apartment.”

“What? No! I’m not- I mean, yeah they left but-” Kalen sighed. “...Yeah.”

“That’s…” Jason let out a long breath. “I’m not sure whether to say awesome or terrifying.”

“Why not a little bit of both? Look, Jase, I have to. I can’t sit by and watch. I did this, and I’m going to put it right.”

“I thought I told you not to blame yourself.” Jason’s tone was jokey, but still held something firmer behind it. Concern? Dismay? Kalen couldn’t quite tell.

“I never was very good at listening.” Kalen emerged from a thick cloud and into clear sky, some distance up ahead the Quinjet was just visible. “I gotta go, I’m sorry. I’ll text you as soon as I can.”

“You’d better not forget this time, I’ll be waiting.”

“I promise. Talk to you later.”

Kalen hung up and switched his focus to the Quinjet. He kept his eyes on it until Friday highlighted the jet in a blue ring. “Lock on to target and match speed,” he instructed.

“On it. Would you like me to connect to their comms?”

“No!” Kalen blurted. “I mean, no, that won’t be necessary, thanks.”

“Is that wise?”

“Probably not, but I’m doing it anyway.” Kalen took a deep breath and attempted to swallow down the fear creeping up his throat. This would be the first time he’s been in a real fight - not training with Natasha or flashing an uncharged repulsor at an opportunist street mugger - since Project Insight, and only the second ever time in his suit. Sure, he and Tony had gone through countless weapons and defence tests, but the real thing was different. The real thing had real stakes, real lives on the line, and real consequences.

Still, Kalen flew on.

* * *

The Quinjet door seemed to lower at a snail’s pace, Kalen waited at the bottom for the inevitable lecture he was about to get. Steve stood at the top and folded his arms when he saw Kalen, shaking his head slightly.

“Tony,” he called, not looking back.

He appeared next to Steve, in his suit but the faceplate flipped up so Kalen saw the look of shock turn to fear then to anger. “What are you doing here?” He asked, marching down the ramp and right up to Kalen. “Kid, it’s dangerous. Ultron could-”

“Could be killing people as we speak,” Kalen interrupted, his voice slightly louder than he’d meant it to be. “And I can’t stay back at the Tower and do nothing.”

Tony let out a sharp breath. “At least tell me you put the new chip in your suit.”

“Of course. Ultron’s not getting in.”

“Then you can stay here, with Bruce.”

“But-”

“No. Nope. Sorry kiddo. There’s no time to discuss this, we need to find Klaue before Ultron does. You’re staying put.” Tony’s face softened a hint. “We’ll be back soon.”

“He’s right,” Steve said and looked between the Avengers. “Everyone ready? Let’s go.”

Kalen watched them disappear into the trees a little way from the jet. Bruce joined his side. “Feels like you should be going with them, right?”

He looked up and Bruce, surprised, and nodded.

“Me too.”

“At least you get to.”

Bruce’s hands curled into fists, though he didn’t seem to notice. “If they need the Hulk, then it’s bad. Everyone knows my little party trick can end horribly, they don’t call me in lightly. I’m never quite sure which is worse.”

“All I know is that I feel guilty all the time. For not fighting with you guys, I mean. And then Clint got hurt, and Ultron…” he trailed off and took a breath. “How are you, after everything? I didn’t really get time to ask before.”

Bruce smiled, gentle, but pure. “I’m working through it. Last night was tough, it’s been a busy week and I just needed some space.” He held up his hands. “No code green here, don’t worry.”

They walked back into the jet, Kalen sat on one of the benches - his suit on the bench opposite - while Bruce checked the radio was connected before falling into the pilot seat. Hardly another word was said between them when it became apparent Ultron had beaten them to Klaue and a firefight had broken out between the three parties. 

Then the radio went down, and Bruce was frantically trying to get it back online as he asked over and over if this was a code green. No matter what he did, the only answer returned was the crackle of static. Kalen stood, back to the still open ramp. “Do you want me to take a look?”

Bruce turned to him, and his eyes widened as they fixated on something over Kalen’s shoulder. “Watch out!”

Kalen whirled around and came face to face with the Maximoff twins. Before he could react, the boy -Pietro, if he remembered correctly - hit him over the head, knocking him to one knee and causing the world to spin around him. The girl, Wanda, crouched down to his level as a malicious grin filled her face. 

She raised her hands, positioning her fingers in a way that would be described as delicate if it weren’t so terrifying. Red wisps of smoke floated between her finger tips. “This is revenge for what your father did to my family.” There was almost a hint of  _ joy _ in her voice. The smoke tendrils filled Kalen’s vision, and everything faded away. 

* * *

He sat up sharply, gulping in a huge breath. Before him, a wasteland spread for miles, the whole world made of browns and greys and blacks. He was atop a ridge, looking down at a crater that couldn’t have been created by anything on earth. On the other side, thousands of faceless figures stared back at him, monoliths that stretched to the skies spewed more out. A lone figure stood at the front of the army, a double edged blade in one hand. 

The crater itself was filled with rubble, dust floated up and wound its way to the back of Kalen’s throat. There was something else too, about halfway down. 

_ A body _ . 

Kalen scrambled down, more sliding than anything else. He cut his hand open on a jagged shard of metal, blood dripping down his arm. Wait. He knew recognised metal, picking it out from the mess and brushing of a layer of grime, he gasped. It was a chunk of Steve’s shield. As he looked around, more shards littered the ground, leading all the way to the body. 

He skidded to his knees. “Steve?” He put all his strength into heaving the corpse over. Steve’s face was covered in blood and dirt, what remained of his shield still on his arm, and his suit ripped to pieces and exposing deep gashes in his skin beneath. Kalen fingers found their way to his neck, but there was no pulse. “No, no, no.”

He looked around for someone, anyone, who could help. But he was alone. Up the crater, from where he came, only the empty shell of the building that had once stood, down…

More corpses. 

Countless. 

Kalen felt sick as he ran between them, hoping to find a twitch of a muscle, a heart beat, a breath. Anything that might mean they were still alive. Clint’s body had a deep gash across his stomach revealing intestines inside, Natasha’s was ghostly pale, Thor’s and the Hulk’s cold to the touch. Sam’s surrounded by a pool of his own blood. Rhodey’s suit shattered around him. 

There were corpses he didn’t recognise, too. Some dressed in robes, some didn’t even look human. Someone wore a red and black suit of some kind, a round, metal helmet covering their face. But there wasn’t a single sign of life apart from the army still amassing on the other side.

Kalen staggered on, blood soaked hands trembling as he tripped over bodies. One in particular caught his eye, a red and blue suit and the tatters of a spider emblem on the chest. As he crouched down to feel for a pulse, their hand shot up and wrapped his wrist in an iron tight grip. 

“W-Why didn’t y-you help-p us?” They choked out, their voice barely strong enough to be there. “You w-weren’t there.”

“I- I don’t know. I don’t know what’s happening. I’m sorry,” he blurted. 

“You let us die.” They let out a shuddering breath, and their hand fell limply to the ground. 

Something about the voice was familiar, young and childish, yet strong at the same time. Kalen stretched out a shaking hand and pulled off the tattered mask. 

He fell back, landing on his hands with the mask still clenched between his fingers. “Peter…” he breathed. “What- I don’t understand. I don’t know- I- I-”

His pulse was quickening, breaths coming in rapidly as he struggled to take in the death and devastation surrounding him. 

Heavy footsteps sounded from ahead, Kalen looked up and searched for their source. He didn’t have to look for very long. 

Tony lurched towards him. He could see skin and cloth through gaping cracks in the suit, and blood trickled down his exposed face. Kalen got to his feet and ran over, catching Tony as he stumbled to the ground. His eyes were filled with pain, tears cut through the dirt and grime covering his cheeks, and a sad smile crossed his face. 

“Son…” he whispered. 

“I’m here Dad, I’m here. Just hold on. I’ll- I’ll help you.”

“Stay…”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Only now did Kalen realise that it wasn’t just dirt on his face, but burns too. 

Tony’s face twisted into anger, his lips curled and jaw clenched. “You could have saved us, if only you were here. Coward. Weak.”

“I don't know what happened.” Kalen wipes his eyes. “Please, Dad-”

“Y-You don’t deserve to be my son. Never have. N-Never will. You could have s-saved us.”

“Dad!” Kalen screamed as Tony let out a final breath. His eyes staring sightlessly up at Kalen. “Please, don’t go. Not again, I can’t…” 

He broke down into sobs that tore painfully from his throat. Frantically, he tried to wipe his bloodied hands on his shorts, but the blood remained. The death remained, coated his hands, his body, his throat in a suffocating hold. 

Inhuman screams came from across the crater and the faceless army charged. Weapons raised, ready to kill. Kalen clung to Tony’s body with everything he had left. 

* * *

_ “Is he okay.” _

_ “Look at him, of course not!” _

_ “Calm down, Tony. Whatever Maximoff did to all of us wore off. We just have to wait-” _

_ “Wait! He’s screaming my name and you tell me to  _ wait _?” _

_ “Maybe you should-” _

_ “Don’t tell me what to do, Rogers.” _

_ “Guys, I think he’s coming around.” _

The voices pounded inside Kalen’s skull, he scrunched up his face and tried to squirm away from them but a pair of hands held him still. 

“Woah, careful kiddo. Can you open your eyes for me?”

Kalen followed the order and peeled open his eyes to find four faces staring down at him. 

“That’s it,” Tony said softly, “Gentle, take your time.”

Slowly, Kalen sat up, aided by Tony and Steve. Clint and Thor in front of him. He held up his shuddering hands and breathed a sigh of relief to find them no longer blood soaked, but he still felt the death clinging to him. 

He was in the Quinjet, as were the others. Natasha in the cockpit and Bruce sitting against the wall with his headphones on and a blanket draped over his shoulders. 

“It’s okay,” Tony hummed. Only then did Kalen realise his mouth was opening and closing with silent words. 

“What happened?” He asked eventually, his voice raw from screaming.

“The Maximoff girl whammied you,” Clint said nonchalantly. “All of them actually, expect me and Stark. The whole mind control thing, been there, done that.”

Kalen barked a laugh, not at Clint’s joke, but at the fact everyone was here. And breathing. And very much alive.  _ Why were his hands still shaking?  _

Tony must have noticed too. “Give us some space,” he ordered to the others, who quickly retreated as far as they could given the confines of the jet. “Hey,” he turned back to Kalen. “Are you okay?”

Kalen nodded, not trusting his voice not to betray him if he spoke. 

“Whatever Maximoff showed you, it’s not real. And I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but it fades.”

“Does it?”

“Slowly.”

Kalen lent his head back and focused on keeping his breathing even. Tony squeezed his knee. “I’ll give you some space.”

At some point in the journey Clint swapped with Natasha in the cockpit - the latter looking just about as shaken as Kalen felt - but for the most part it passed in a haze. Kalen struggled to get the image of the thousands of dead bodies from his mind, and couldn't look at the Avengers without seeing them cold, pale, and lifeless. Tony’s words echoed through his head. 

_ You don’t deserve to be my son. _

Wanda certainly got his worst fear right. He knew that’s all it was, a fake, a vision designed to break him, but that didn’t mean it hit any less hard. That didn’t explain why Peter had been there, though, let alone Peter dressed up like a superhero. 

_ Why didn’t you help us? _

“We’re here,” Clint declared, taking off his headset and rising from the chair. Kalen glanced up, not even realising they landed, and saw only a sprawling field out of the window. 

Tony helped him to his feet, which Kalen was glad for because his knees shook so much they threatened to give way. Together, they walked down the ramp, a short way across the field, and up the stairs of a grand farmhouse. 

“What is this place?” Tony asked. 

“Safe house,” was all Clint offered as he walked through the open front door. Everyone else traipsed in after him, drained and defeated, as Clint called out. “Honey? I’m home.”

Kalen’s head snapped up, meeting Tony’s confused gaze, as a beautiful, brown haired woman walked into the open plan sitting room they found themselves in. A very obvious baby bump suggested she was close to the end of her pregnancy. The more Kalen looked around, the more things clicked into place. Kids drawing and certificates stuck by magnets to the fridge, photos of Clint and the mystery woman hung over the cosy fireplace, and legos and other toys scattered across the floor. Clearly, this was more than just a safe house. 

“Hi,” Clint said, smiling sheepishly as he crossed the room to the woman and kissed her cheek. “Company. Sorry, didn’t call ahead.”

“This is an agent of some kind,” Tony muttered, not wanting to accept the obvious truth. 

“Gentlemen, this is Laura.”

Laura looked between them and smiled at Kalen’s polite wave. “I know all of your names.”

Thundering footsteps sounded from a different room and two l kids ran through the doorway behind them - a boy with short brown hair, and a girl a few years younger. They ran up to Clint with happy shouts and giggles, coming together in a warm hug of reunion. 

“These are… smaller agents.”

“Did you bring Auntie Nat?” The girl asked.

Kalen grinned and glanced back at Natasha, she was still pale, shaken by whatever Wanda showed her, but it seemed to be wearing off. Kalen wished he could say the same, but with every passing moment it only felt more real. Inevitable, even. 

“Why don’t you hug her and find out?” Natasha asked, lifting the girl off the floor with one arm and pulling the boy close with the other. 

“Sorry for barging in on you,” Steve said.

“Yeah,” Tony added, “we would’ve called ahead but we were busy having no idea you existed.”

Clint, now with his arms around the shoulders of his wife and kids and looking happier than Kalen had ever seen him, explained briefly. “Well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD’s files, I’d like to keep it that way. Figure it’s a good place to lay low.”

Tony pulled Kalen to the side as everyone started their own conversations and crouched down on one knee, a hand on his forearm. “Your hands are still shaking,” he noted. “Are you feeling okay? Need to lie down for a bit? Glass of water?”

“No, no. I’m okay.” Even as Kalen said it, the sight of his red stained hands flashed through his mind, the sight of Tony’s soot, blood, and grime covered face superimposed itself over the very much living one in front of him. Kalen squeezed shut his eyes and let out a slow breath. “It was just…”

“Scary?” Tony asked. Kalen’s eyes flicked open, and he nodded slowly. “I was scared too, and that’s okay. Do you want to talk about it? About what you saw?”

“I- No,” Kalen admitted. “Not really. Not yet.”

Tony stood and kissed the top of Kalen’s head and muttered. “Any time you want, buddy.”

Thor breezed past them and marched straight out of the front door, Steve followed close behind. “Thor?”

“I saw something in that dream. I need answers, I won’t find them here.” Before anyone could get another word in, Thor lifted Mjolnir high and took off into the sky. Steve turned to reenter, but froze in the doorway, staring at Tony and Kalen, at the house, and walked off into the field outside.

“Do you know what either of them saw?” Kalen asked, watching as Steve went.

Tony shook his head then turned to face Klen with his brow furrowed and head tilted. “How come we didn’t know you were following us? I upgraded the Quinjet radar myself-”

“Exactly, so I knew how to cloak my suit.”

“And…”

“The John Cena protocol.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “The what?”

“John Cena protocol,” Kalen repeated, ducking his head as he felt heat rising in his cheeks. “You can’t see me.”

A smile grew on Tony’s face as he shook his head. “I’m going to be consulting you before I name new protocols from now on,” he chuckled. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m going to see if I can get anything useful out of Cap, care to join? He might be less mad and more passive aggressive if you’re there.”

“I’ll be out in a minute, I said I’d tell Jason when it was all over.”

Tony nodded and left, giggling to himself. Kalen could have sworn he heard him mutter “you can’t see me” under his breath.

As soon as Kalen looked at his phone, the brief reprieve of happiness drained away. At least a dozen worried texts from Jason waited for him.

_ Don’t forget to call when you’re safe. _

_ I mean it. _

_ I saw the news report from Johannesburg, is Doctor Banner okay? _

_ Please just call me when you can. _

Kalen’s thumb hovered over the call button, he longed to hear Jason’s relaxed, calming voice but feared his own would give away the severity of their situation. He opted to text him instead.

_ Hey, can’t call right now but we’re all good, no one’s hurt. We’re at a safehouse, I don’t even know where, not sure when we’ll be back either, but I’m okay. _

He glanced over at Bruce who sat, head in his hands, on the sofa. Natasha so close their knees touched as she murmured words Kalen couldn’t hear but could probably guess the sentiment. It was nice, watching Natasha and Bruce grow closer. Both of them saw themselves as monsters - Bruce because of the Hulk, Natasha because of her red room training which Kalen knew only the barest of outlines about. Maybe, together, they could show each other who they really were, not a monster to be feared, but a hero to be praised and adored, loved, possibly.

With the smallest smile of his face, Kalen went outside to join Steve and Tony. 

They’d taken up by a pile of logs, each with an axe in hand as they blew off some steam. Kalen caught wind of their conversation as he approached. 

“‘Earth’s mightiest heroes.’” Steve said. “Pulled apart like cotton candy.”

“Seems like you walked away all right.”

“Is that a problem?”

“I don’t trust a guy without a dark side.” Tony brought down his axe on a log, chopping it clean in half. “Call me old fashioned.”

“Well let’s just say you haven’t seen it yet.”

“You know Ultron is trying to tear us apart, right?”

“Well, I guess you’d know. Whether or not you’d tell us is a bit of a question.”

“We were doing research-”

“That could affect the team.”

“That could end the team!” Tony shouted. “Isn’t that the ‘why we fight’. So we can  _ end _ the fight. So we get to go home?”

Steve ripped a log in half with his strength alone, pieces flying out a good distance from the force. “Everytime people try to win a war before it starts, innocent people die. Every time.”

Kalen jogged the remaining distance. “Can we not? Fight, I mean, not right now.”

“Sorry, kid,” Steve muttered, though it was fair from convincing.

“Look, Uncle Steve, we know how badly we messed up with Ultron and there’s not enough apologies to make up for it, but dad’s right. He’s trying to tear us apart and we can’t let him. Bruce might never be able to show his face again, Nat’s barely holding on, Thor’s already gone. We can’t lose anyone else.”

Steve took a breath, breathing it deep and blowing it out slowly. “I’m not going anywhere, kid. We’ll figure this out.”

“Together?”

Steve looked over to Tony, the pair sharing a long, meaningful glance. “Together,” he nodded.

“Hi, um… I’m sorry to interrupt.” Laura approached from behind Tony, wringing her hands. “Mr Stark, Clint said you wouldn’t mind but our tractor doesn’t seem to want to start at all. I thought you might…”

“Yeah, we’ll give her a kick,” Tony replied. “Kay, come on. And don’t take from my pile.”

Laura pointed them towards a barn building not far from the house. Inside was dimly lit and filled with various tools, furniture and crates stored away. In the centre was the tractor in question, a slightly faded John Deere, hints of rust just creeping in at the edges that suggested it hadn’t been used in a while.

“Hello, Deere,” Tony murmured as he walked over to it and took a cursory glance at the engine, Kalen by his side and holding a tool box he found resting on one of the crates. “Tell us everything. What ails you?”

“Do me a favour,” said a cool, deep voice from the far corner. One that simultaneously unnerved and calmed Kalen. “Try not to bring it to life.”

“Why, Mrs Barton. You little minx,” Tony said, he turned to Fury. “I get it. Maria Hill called you, right? Was she ever not working for you?”

“Artificial Intelligence.” Fury ignored Tony’s questions. “You never even hesitated.”

“Look, it’s been a really long day, like Eugene O'Neill long, so how about you skip to the part where you’re useful.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you’re going to shut him down.”

“You’re not the director of me.”

“I’m not the director of anyone. I’m just an old man, who cares very much about you.” Fury met Kalen’s eye. “About both of you.”

Kalen gave Fury an awkward wave, followed by an even more awkward thumbs up as a silence stretched between them.

Eventually, Tony spoke, chewing his lip and pointedly turning away from Kalen. “And I’m the man who killed the Avengers.” Fury’s brow narrowed. “I saw it. I didn’t tell the team. How could I? I saw them all dead, Nick, I felt it. The whole world, too, because of me.”

Stepping closer, Kalen put his hand on Tony’s forearm and squeezed. Tony rested his hand on top but still didn’t meet Kalen’s eyes. “I wasn’t ready. I didn’t do all I could…”

Kalen’s heart turned over and he felt close to tears as he thought back to the day previously in Tony’s office.  _ God, that was only yesterday? _ “We’re alive, remember? All of us. Hey, even Fury’s alive and he’s been dead for, like, a year or something.”

Tony let out a strangled laugh and hugged Kalen in one arm.

“That Maximoff girl, she’s working you, Stark,” Fury said. “Playing tricks on your fear.”

“I wasn’t tricked, I was shown. Wasn’t a nightmare, it was my legacy.” He kissed the top of Kalen’s hair and held him tighter. “The end of the path I started us on.”

“You come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony. War isn’t one of them.”

“I watched my friends, my fami- I watched them die. You’d think that’d be as bad as it gets, right? Nope. I wasn’t the worst part.”

“The worst part was that you didn’t.” Kalen’s voice was small, barely more than a whisper as he hurried to get the words out. “I- I saw it, too. I wasn’t there to help them and…” He didn’t need to finish the sentence.

Tony crouched, his face turning to one of concern. “Kay, that’s… That’s not even something that should be on your mind-”

“I know, I know. I’m ‘just a kid’ and should ‘go and play with my friends’. You’ve said it all before, but it doesn’t change how I feel. That’s why I created the J-”  _ He was not about to say John Cena Protocol in front of Nick Fury. _ “Why I followed you to Johannesburg. I couldn’t sit back and watch, not again.”

“You have nothing to feel guilty for, Captain,” Tony assured, though it did little to soothe Kalen. “The world doesn’t rest on your shoulders.”

“Then it doesn’t rest on yours, either.”

“The kid’s right,” Fury said. Kalen and Tony both almost having forgotten he was there in the first place. “You’ve got the team to share it, Stark. Don’t push them when you need them most.”

“Says the man who found out his organisation was corrupt and faked his death.”

“We’ve got bigger fish than that, right now. We need to figure out Ultron’s plan, and do something about it.”


End file.
